


Defrosted by Daylight

by Kellbells



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Battle, Comedy, Drama, F/M, Funny, Romance, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:41:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26675311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kellbells/pseuds/Kellbells
Summary: Zuko makes a different choice at The Crossroads of Destiny and is imprisoned for treachery. Katara hears about his scheduled execution and decides to change things up during The Day of Black Sun. Later, Jet suddenly shows up at the Western Air Temple to -almost- everyone's surprise. -Zutara season 3
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 48
Kudos: 152





	1. The Crossroads of Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> The story follows Team Avatar from the Crossroads of Destiny through season 3. Also, Jet is alive! It has a similar spirit and heart to the original show, focusing mostly on comedy and friendship, but has a slow building Zutara romance.  
> This story is very canon compliant in many ways, so some scenes do come straight from the show, but include character insight and thoughts. Many new canon divergent scenes will include Jet being alive and Zutara.  
> I'm going to try to stick with a 1-2 chapter a week, weekly Sunday afternoon upload schedule. The entire story is done already, so no worries about starting a story that won't be finished, this story IS complete!  
> I will be posting updates both on Fanfiction .net and Archive of our own. I seriously appreciate any support, readership, sharing, and reviews. This story has been a big part of my life for the last few months, and I'm soooo excited to finally share it.  
> A big thanks to my friend Shelby for helping with brainstorming and editing. I love you girl! 
> 
> Each page break/line is a change in character point of view.

Katara and Zuko were in the crystal catacombs prison. They had been together a while talking.

“I used to think this scar marked me,” Zuko said. “The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark.”

Katara’s face changed to one of hope, “Maybe you could be free of it.”

“What?” Zuko said in surprise.

“I have healing abilities,” Katara said.

The small amount of hope that had entered Zuko's heart quickly left, “It’s a scar, it can’t be healed.”

Katara pulled her amulet from under her collar and held it up. “This is water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I've been saving it for something important. I don’t know if it would work, but …” Katara gently put one hand on Zuko’s scar, and his eyes closed in response. He didn’t realize just how close they were until he heard a noise. There was a blast in a wall of the catacombs, and out came Aang and Iroh.

___

“Aang!” Katara ran to a surprised Aang and hugged him. “Aang, I knew you would come!” As they hugged, Aang glared over her shoulder at Zuko, who glared back as his uncle hugged him.

“Uncle, I don't understand. What are you doing with the Avatar?” Zuko said as he pointed at Aang.

“Saving you, that's what,” Aang said.

Zuko took one step in Aang's direction, but Iroh stopped him. “Zuko, it's time we talked,” Iroh said. Iroh turned to Aang and Katara, “Go help your other friends. We'll catch up with you.”

___

Katara was hesitant, and Aang noticed. Aang gently tugged on her arm, and Katara acquiesced. As they left, Katara looked back at Zuko. He was sadly looking to the side. A small part of her wished they had more time together and wondered what might have happened if Aang and Iroh had been later than they were.

___

“Why Uncle?” Zuko faced Iroh, his expression confused.

“You're not the man you used to be, Zuko,” Iroh said. “You are stronger and wiser and freer than you have ever been. And now you have come to the crossroads of your destiny. It's time for you to choose. It's time for you to choose _good_.”

Zuko yelled as crystals suddenly grew from the ground to encase Iroh. He moved into a fighting position to prepare for the intruders. Azula and two Dai Li agents slid down from the sides of the chamber. “I expected this kind of treachery from Uncle,” Azula said. Zuko kept his protective stance in front of his uncle. “But Zuko, Prince Zuko, you're a lot of things, but you're not a _traitor_ , are you?”

“Release him immediately,” Zuko said.

“It's not too late for you Zuko. You can still redeem yourself,” Azula said.

Iroh spoke up, “The kind of redemption she offers is not for you.”

“Why don't you let him decide, Uncle?” Azula said turning to Zuko. “I need you, Zuko. I've plotted every move of this day,” she made a fist to emphasize her words, “this glorious day in Fire Nation history, and the only way we win is together. At the end of this day, you will have your honor back. You will have Father's love. You will have everything you want.”

Zuko could hear his old mantra in his head, _‘Azula always lies.’_ But her picture of the future was so tempting…

“Zuko, I am begging you,” his uncle said. “Look into your heart and see what it is that you truly want.”

“You are free to choose,” Azula said.

Azula gestured at the two Dai Li agents to leave, and they earthbended themselves out. Then Azula left to follow Aang and Katara.

___

“What was that back there?” Aang looked at Katara expectantly. They were running through the crystal catacombs, away from Zuko and Iroh, but Aang seemed uneasy.

“What do you mean?” Katara glanced at him. She had hoped Aang wouldn't bring it up.

“You know exactly what I mean. You were close to Zuko when we came in, and then it’s like you didn’t want to leave them. Something must have happened. It’s _Zuko_ we're talking about. What did he do to you?” Aang sounded angry.

Katara sighed, “It’s too much to explain now, but I promise I'll tell you later. Right now, we have more important things to worry about. We've got to find Toph and Sokka.”

A bolt of blue lightning suddenly attacked them from behind. Aang stopped it using earthbending, as they both turned to face Azula. Katara used waterbending to stop another lightning attack.

The mist from the vaporized water allowed Azula to jump onto a crystal and firebend two blasts of blue fire at them. Together, Aang and Katara bended an arc of water to stop the blasts. Azula finished her jump by landing on a rock pillar. Aang earthbended the pillar, and Azula gasped once she noticed the pillar crumbling.

Azula jumped off and landed between Katara and Aang. She pointed at both of them, preparing to attack. A fire blast stopped her from attacking, and they all looked to see that the source of the fire blast was Zuko.

___

Zuko looked from Azula to Katara and Aang, trying to choose who to attack. Katara’s eyes connected with his. He could hear his Uncles words echo in his head, _‘Look into your heart and see what it is that you truly want.’_ His decision was made.

Azula's eyes flashed with surprise once she realized Zuko was about to attack her and she split the fire to keep it from hitting her. “Traitor!” she screamed at her brother. “You've betrayed the Fire Nation, Zuko!”

Katara and Aang both seemed a bit shocked, but Katara recovered quickly and started dueling with Azula. Aang and Zuko studied each other a moment, nodding before they both moved to help Katara.

___

Azula ran away from Katara, who sent a wave of water at her that actually cut Azula’s hair. Katara then encased herself in water, using it to stop Azula's firebending attacks. She threw her arms toward Azula and one water tentacle captured Azula's hand and another one captured her foot.

“She has her!” Zuko yelled.

Aang joined Katara, and they both used the water to bend Azula against a wall. Katara took over, and used ice to imprison Azula, but Azula used a blast of fire to break free.

Then Azula was running. “I know when I'm outmatched,” she yelled at them. Azula changed her tactic, and suddenly sent a fireblast at Katara, who out of surprise, didn't bend her water to completely protect herself in time, and got knocked down.

___

“Katara!” Zuko yelled. Zuko stepped in front of Katara and intercepted another blast of fire, throwing it right back at his sister. “I’m no traitor, Azula,” Zuko said. “Father betrayed me first!”

Azula dodged and continued throwing blue blasts of fire at him. “You will regret this Zuko,” she said. “You will _never_ regain your honor now.”

Zuko ran after his sister, throwing blasts of fire at her that she continued to dodge. “My honor isn’t something someone else can give me!” Zuko said.

___

Aang, who had been trying to send blasts of air to throw Azula off, jumped up from the old building he had been using as a vantage point, and earth surfed toward Azula to stop her from attacking Zuko and Katara.

A Dai Li agent used earthbending to break Aang's surf, knocking him down. Aang stood up and surveyed the scene. More Dai Li agents gathered behind Zuko and Azula. Zuko attacked the Dai Li around him, and Katara started regaining her focus as Dai Li agents surrounded her. Katara used the octopus form to defend herself.

“There's too many,” Aang mumbled to himself, as he turned to look at Katara. Aang heard Pathik’s voice from his memory, _‘The only way is to let her go.’_ “I’m sorry Katara.”

Closing his eyes, he turned away from Azula and Zuko and earthbended a crystal shelter tent around himself. Aang entered the Avatar State and the crystal shelter started glowing. Inside the shelter, Aang opened his glowing eyes and broke the crystal above him, floating slowly up.

___

Too late, Zuko looked over and noticed what his sister was about to do, “No!” he yelled as he ran at her. A bolt of lightning flew from her fingers and struck Aang in the back. Zuko looked on in horror at his sister, who stood in a lightning summoning position, her fingers smoking.

___

As Aang fell down, Katara, tears falling down her face, created a large wave to surf on to catch Aang. The wave knocked down the Dai Li agents as she went. When she caught him, she looked down at Aang and back up with tears in her eyes.

___

As Aang fell, Zuko ran towards Aang and Katara to try to help protect them. He turned his fire attacks on Azula with full force, but still couldn’t get past her defenses. Azula prepared another attack, but a sudden blast of fire stopped her. Iroh had jumped down from the wall of the cave and stood next to Zuko, helping shield Aang and Katara from Azula.

“You've got to get out of here!” Iroh said. “I’ll hold them off as long as I can!” He fired some blasts at Azula and the Dai Li.

“No Uncle!” Zuko said. “I won’t leave you here!”

___

Katara hesitated, wanting to get out as quickly as she could, but not wanting to leave an ally behind.

“You need to go Zuko! Help them get out of here! I will be fine,” Iroh continued sending out blasts of fire.

“Go!” Zuko shouted at Katara, holding his ground and staying with his uncle.

“But…what about you?” Katara said.

“Zuko, you should go,” Iroh said. “I will be fine.”

“I’m not leaving you Uncle! Katara, you have to get the Avatar away from here!” Zuko said, grunting as they continued blocking the attacks.

Tears streaming down her face and sensing Aang didn’t have much time left, Katara ran to the waterfall, using waterbending to lift her and Aang up its path.

___

Iroh and Zuko held off the Dai Li agents until after Katara and Aang were gone. Then they were forced to submit to the Dai Li, who used earthbending to encase them in crystals.

___

Katara joined Toph, Sokka, and the earth king on Appa's back. They were flying away from Ba Sing Se. At first, all anyone could do was fearfully stare at Aang's body. Then everyone watched as Katara took her amulet off of her neck and uncorked it. She bended the small amount of spirit water out of it, bending it in a glowing circle above her hand, and into the wound on Aang's back.

When nothing seemed to happen to Aang's body, Katara cried out and hugged him, tears filling her eyes. Suddenly Aang's arrows lit up and faded again, and Aang groaned. Katara said, "Aang!" with a gasp. Aang weakly smiled at her and she hugged him.

___

Later, Azula was at the Earth King's throne. She had won, but she was furious about her brother's treachery. “After a hundred years, the Fire nation has finally taken over Ba Sing Se,” Azula said.

“That's great and all,” Mai said to Azula, “but where is Zuko? I heard he was here.”

“Zuko betrayed the Fire Nation today,” Azula said, turning to Mai and Ty Lee who glanced at each other in surprise. “He’s our prisoner, along with my dearest uncle. Things just got a bit more … interesting.”

___

Upon arrival to the Fire Nation, Zuko and Iroh had been put in the Capitol City Prison. They were only there for a few days when Zuko got a visitor. “Mai?” Zuko gasped.

Mai stared at him with her dark emotionless eyes. “You look awful,” she said.

Zuko frowned and said, “Nice to see you too.”

She threw a small pack at him. He looked inside, finding a few changes of red fire nation clothes. He really had been tired of wearing the ugly prison clothes, but he didn’t have enough of his own clothes to wear and wash. “Thanks,” he said. “But why?”

Mai said, “Because for some reason, even after everything you’ve done, I still care about you.”

Zuko stared at her in shock. “Really?”

Mai lowered her voice. “You’re not the only one who questions Azula’s … methods. I don’t understand every choice you’ve made, but I understand some of them. Your sister is not the easiest person to work with.”

Zuko scoffed, “That’s an understatement. Well I’m glad not everyone from my past hates me.” He stared into Mai’s eyes. “If things had been different … Mai … I …” he blushed. “Since I’ll probably be dead soon, I might as well tell you. I used to like you when we were little. Who knows, if things had been different, then maybe we could have been together.”

Mai blushed bright red and turned her face away from him. “I liked you too,” she said. “Too bad you became a traitor.” She sighed, “Things in the palace are boring without you.”She turned abruptly to walk out. “Goodbye Zuko,” she said.

“Goodbye Mai,” he said.

Once Mai was gone, Zuko noticed Iroh raising an eyebrow at him. “Not. A. Word.” Zuko said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a bit late this week. I'd rather be happy with it before I post than just push it out for a deadline! Thank you for reading and reviewing!


	2. The Day of Black Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko makes a different choice at The Crossroads of Destiny and is imprisoned for treachery. Katara hears about his scheduled execution and decides to change things up during The Day of Black Sun. Later, Jet suddenly shows up at the Western Air Temple to -almost- everyone's surprise. -Zutara season 3

“Dearest brother,” Azula was saying to Zuko. It was mere hours before the eclipse. She had come to gloat of course. “Today, after we defeat the Avatar’s band of peasants, I will get to celebrate becoming an only child. I wanted to come and say goodbye before the execution,” she sighed. “Such a dreary thing. You know, I never wanted this to happen,” She bent down, reaching through the prison bars toward him, her face sad. Zuko jerked away from her. Azula’s face turned to a glare, and she stood back up quickly. “Do you have anything to say? You don’t have much time left.”

“The Avatar’s group is stronger than you think,” Zuko said, his voice coming out scratchy from disuse.

Azula rolled her eyes. “Even if they survive this day without getting captured, they will all die soon enough anyways, just like the airbenders.”

“What do you mean?” Zuko said.

Azula laughed, “Oh that’s right, I forgot for a moment that you don’t have the _privilege_ of knowing these things anymore. That you’ve been stripped of your birthrights. How sad that must feel, always seeing your little sister surpass you. Anyways, I’m talking about the comet of course.” She examined her nails casually as though they were merely discussing the weather.

“What about it?” Zuko said.

“Impatient, aren’t we? You never were good at patience Zuzu,” Azula said, staring him down. Zuko huffed in annoyance, and Azula laughed again. “We will be using the power granted to us by the comet to finally destroy the Earth Kingdom and all those in it, just as our great grandfather Sozin used it to destroy the Airbenders.” Zuko couldn’t help the shocked gasp that escaped his lips. Azula smiled gleefully at his reaction. “I knew you would fear for them. You’ve spent the last few years among those peasants, maybe even have some little friends from Ba Sing Se you’re worried about?” It disgusted Zuko how happy this was making his sister.

“We’ll see what happens,” Zuko said.

“ _You_ won’t see _anything_ ,” Azula snapped. “I just wanted to see your reaction. Too bad I won’t get to tease you this way ever again. Don’t be so sad Zuzu, you’ll be reunited with your Avatar friends soon, and they’ll get to watch your execution…from chains of course. Goodbye brother, Uncle,” Azula said, turning swiftly away to exit.

After Azula was gone, Zuko lamented, “I can’t believe this.”

Iroh was smiling a wide smile, “I know, I never would have thought Azula with her cunning could make such a grave mistake. But she underestimates us greatly. To her, we are dead already.”

“Uncle, what do you mean? This is horrible! They’re going to kill so many innocent people.”

“Make no mistake nephew, I agree that the plan is horrible,” Iroh said, “But remember, knowledge is like a garden; if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.”

“Uncle,” Zuko said, “this is no time for obscure proverbs.” 

Iroh said, “Azula just gave us valuable information. We must use it wisely.”

___

“Everyone, listen up,” Hakoda said. “The next time we resurface, it'll be on the beaches. So, stay alert and fight smart. Now break times over, back in the subs.” Sokka, Toph, and Momo left Katara and Aang alone on the deck.

“Katara, I…” Aang said at the same time Katara said, “Aang, I…”

“You go first,” Aang said.

“We've been through so many things together, and I've seen you grow up so much,” Katara said. “You're not that little goofy kid I found in the iceberg anymore. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm really proud of you.”

“Everything's gonna be different after today, isn't it?” Aang said.

“Yes, it is,” Katara said. Especially after what she was planning on doing…

“What if ... what if I don't come back?” Aang said.

“Aang, don't say that, of course you'll-,” Katara never got to finish the sentence because Aang suddenly kissed her. Katara felt her cheeks burning, and watched as Aang pulled away, snapped his glider open, and flew away. She was in shock. She had suspected Aang’s little crush, but she couldn’t believe what he had just done.

Sokka’s voice brought her back to what was happening around her as he said, “Katara, what are you doing? It's time to submerge.”

“What? Right, I'm on it,” Katara said as she jumped onto Appa and waterbended a sphere of water around his head before they submerged.

___

After helping heal her father from his injuries, Katara had to move on to her own plan. Before the invasion, she had tried to talk Sokka into helping her with it, but he had refused. He said the most important thing was taking down the Fire Lord, how could she even be thinking of helping Zuko? But Katara knew it was the right thing to do. There were rumors of Zuko being executed, and she wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Listen up, everyone,” Sokka said. “I want the tanks in wedge formation. Warriors and benders in the middle. We're taking that tower, and heading for the royal palace.”

Katara went to the middle of the formation, wishing she was with Sokka on Appa, but she didn’t want him to get suspicious of what she was planning.

___

When Aang, Sokka, and Toph went off to locate the Fire Lord’s bunker, Katara broke off on her own. She had put on a black cloak now, hoping it would help her blend in. She had done some of her own research to prepare for this day. She knew from her compass the general direction of the Capital City Prison, and ran toward the spot she had memorized from one of Sokka’s maps.

The prison was a large fortified stone tower. Just being near it made Katara feel small. Maybe she had been a bit overly confident in coming here alone. It was a new moon; her power source was completely black, and the sun was blazing above her … until it suddenly wasn’t. She smiled when the eclipse started. It was what she needed to push her forward with her full water skin. She was a master waterbender, and she could do this.

___

Iroh and Zuko ran down the hall, dodging attacks. Zuko had stolen a sword from a guard, and Iroh had a long pole he was using to knock out surprised guards. As they turned around a corner, a sudden volley of ice crystals zoomed toward them. Before the waterbender could see who they were, she was attacking, one of her ice crystals cutting Zuko’s cheek.

The three stared at each other in shock for several seconds before Iroh broke the silence. “Miss Katara, how wonderful it is to see you!”

“Iroh! Zuko!” Katara yelled as she stopped her attack, the ice melting back to water. “I’m so sorry!” she said. I thought you two were guards!”

“Katara, what are you doing here?” Zuko said.

“I came to bust you two out but…seems like you already had that covered,” she said with a laugh. As she examined his face, her eyes widened. “Oh no, I cut you! Here, let me heal it,” she pulled water up to her hands that started glowing blue.

“Shouldn’t we keep moving?” Zuko said. “More guards could be coming, you really don’t have to … ahhh,” he sighed as the pain from his right cheek went away, her gentle palms moving the blue glowing water around the cut and healing it.

“Amazing,” Iroh said in admiration at the ability.

Katara smiled, “I wouldn’t worry too much about any guards.”

As they started walking again, Zuko said, “Why not?”

“You’ll see,” she said.

As they walked, the trio came across guard after guard, all frozen or knocked out … by Katara clearly.

Iroh and Zuko stared around at the devastation in awe. “Seems we didn’t need to plan our escape at all, eh nephew?” Iroh said with a laugh.

___

“You…really came for us,” Zuko said, looking at her with a surprised expression.

“Of course, I did,” Katara said. “If it weren’t for you two, I would be in prison right now too or maybe even dead, and the Avatar would no longer exist. There’s no way I could let you be executed after what you did. I owe you two my life.”

“We put your life and the Avatar’s life in danger many times in the past,” Iroh said. “You didn’t owe us anything, but we are thankful for you coming here. It’s an honor to have such a powerful and _lovely_ ally. Isn’t she lovely Zuko?”

“Uncle,” Zuko said, looking embarrassed.

“Thank you general,” Katara said with a blush.

“Call me Iroh,” Iroh said. “Forgive my nephew, he comes from a time when war was taught more than flattering young ladies.” Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose, thankful when Katara changed the subject.

“I’m so glad I found you both alive,” Katara said. “I was afraid … you know since I heard the execution was going to be today. I was afraid I might be too late, but I got here as quickly as I could.”

“You came in perfect time,” Iroh said as they exited the prison. As the trio approached the city, Iroh said, “I’m afraid I must leave you two now. I have some business in the earth kingdom to attend to. Remember nephew, the White Lotus opens wide to those who know her secrets.”

Katara stared between them, a bit confused as Iroh left. Iroh was nice, but he was sometimes a pretty cooky old man. She turned to Zuko as he started speaking.

“Katara,” Zuko said. “If Aang doesn’t succeed in defeating my father today, I want to join your group.”

She blinked at him. “Okay,” she said.

“Okay?” Zuko sounded surprised.

“Well, we’ll have to talk to the group about it, but I’m sure it will be fine. Aang will need a firebending teacher either way, whatever happens.”

“Before I join you, I need to take care of one thing,” Zuko said, his eyes shifting to the palace. “Where can I find you if your group has to leave?”

Katara hesitated one moment. Zuko had been their enemy for so long, it was hard to trust him. But on the other hand, if he had wanted to harm her, he’d had plenty of opportunity already. He had saved her. He was the reason Aang was still alive. “The Western Air Temple,” she said. “If things go bad, our next rendezvous point is the Western Air Temple.”

Zuko nodded. “If things go bad, I’ll see you there.” He ran toward the palace. A small part of Katara wondered if she had just made a huge mistake.

___

Zuko confronted his father, declaring that his new purpose was to join the avatar in defeating him, and taking his place on the throne. Zuko headed toward the Western Air Temple in a stolen Fire Nation war balloon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Reviews are much appreciated. I'm so excited to be finally sharing this story! Next chapter will be called The Western Air Temple. :)


	3. The Western Air Temple

“It's so different from the Northern Air Temple,” Teo said. “I wonder if there are any secret rooms.”

“Let’s go check it out!” Haru said, running further into the temple, Teo, and The Duke following after him. Aang started to follow too, but Katara stepped in front of him to cut him off.

They had finally made it to the Western Air Temple. Katara was amazed by the temple, just as the rest of the group was, but she was more focused on the future. They needed to figure out what they were going to do next. She was almost surprised when she saw the excitement of others in the group. How could they feel anything but _worry_ for the future? But, she had to remind herself, they were also children. She had grown up a lot in the last few months as she had faced the realities of a world at war.

“You guys go,” Katara said. “I think we need to talk about some things.”

“Why can’t I go?” Aang said.

“We need to decide what we're gonna do now, and since you're the Avatar, maybe you should be a part of this,” Katara said. She couldn’t help the irritation that came through her voice. At times she loved Aang’s free spirit, but now was not the time for it. This was serious.

“Fair enough,” Aang said as he sat down. “So, what's the new plan?”

“Well, if you ask me, the new plan is the old plan!” Sokka said. “You just need to master all four elements and confront the Fire Lord before the comet comes.”

“Oh, yeah. That's great, no problem. I'll just do that,” Aang said sarcastically.

“Aang, no one said it's going to be easy,” Katara said.

“Well, it's not even gonna be possible! Where am I supposed to get a firebending teacher?” Aang said.

“Well…” Katara said, “actually…” Katara froze up, afraid to come clean, but they would find out what she did eventually.

“What?” Sokka said.

“I know the perfect firebending teacher,” Katara said nervously.

“Really?” Aang said excitedly. “Who?”

“Zuko,” Katara said. It was silent a few seconds as everyone processed this.

Sokka frowned, “Sorry to say this sis, but he … you know,” Sokka drew a line across his throat, making a cutting sound. “Execution and all.”

“Oh, well you see, I may have actually run into him in the capital. He’s not dead,” Katara said. “And I may have also helped break him and Iroh out of the Capitol City Prison.”

Sokka’s mouth dropped wide open as he said, “No you did not!”

“Yeah she did. She’s telling the truth,” Toph said with a nod.

Aang looked like he might go into the Avatar state at that moment, and Katara knew she needed to explain herself, but suddenly things got a lot worse.

A voice behind her said, “Hello, Zuko here.”

___

Zuko had been waiting for several minutes for the right time to reveal himself to the group. When he heard Katara telling them about helping him and Iroh escape prison, it seemed like the perfect time to offer her some support, and help with the explanation. “Hello, Zuko here,” he said as they all noticed him. He raised his arm up in a wave.

As the group looked at him with expressions of shock and anger, and he connected eyes with Katara, he realized he may have made a mistake. _Especially_ from the look on Katara’s face. He usually wasn’t great at reading people, but her eyes were definitely saying, _No! Not now_! He had probably never felt more awkward in his life.

“I know you must be surprised to see me here…but uh hi,” he said.

“Not really, since you've followed us all over the world,” Sokka said in a biting tone.

“Right,” Zuko said. “Well, uhhh ... anyway ... what I wanted to tell you about is that I've changed, and I, uhhh, I'm good now, and well I think I should join your group, oh, and I can teach firebending to you,” he said, pointing to Aang. “See, I, uh…”

“You want to _what_ now?” Sokka said.

___

“Guys,” Katara said, physically stepping between the group and Zuko. They had all shifted to defensive positions, and she could already see the path of this conversation slipping away from where she had wanted it to go. In the version of this where Zuko _didn’t_ bring a whole army of Fire Nation airships to hunt them down, she had envisioned this going so much better in her head. The days of traveling to the air temple had been lonely for her. She wanted to tell her friends about Zuko, she wasn’t used to keeping secrets from them, but she couldn’t figure out the right way to do it. She knew they would be mad at her and maybe even feel like she had betrayed them. But in her heart, she knew she had done the right thing, and she hoped they would be able to understand. She felt indebted to Zuko for his sacrifice in Ba Sing Se, especially after she had been the one to accidentally turn him in to Azula.

“I’ve explained to you how I felt about this before,” Katara said to her friends. “Sokka, I tried, I begged you for weeks to help me, and to involve you guys in this. I wanted rescuing Zuko to be part of your plan, but you didn’t listen to me. Without Zuko, Aang would be dead right now … all because I got myself captured. If you want to be mad at anyone, be mad at me.”

Sokka sighed, “Katara, no one’s mad at you for being thrown in prison by Azula. We were captured too,” he gestured to Toph.

“Hey!” Toph said, “I little bit of metal isn’t gonna hold me anywhere for long.” Toph punched her fist into her other hand in emphasis.

Sokka turned to Katara and said, “I should have _known_ you wouldn’t be able to let the Zuko thing go as easily as you seemed to. It’s not in your nature. You just _have_ to help people, all the time, even if they don’t deserve it. But really sis? This is the angry jerk we’re talking about!” Sokka gestured dramatically at Zuko as he said this with a screech. Zuko’s eyes were wide, he looked visibly uncomfortable to be the center of so much attention.

“I don’t even care about you helping Zuko, who has been our _enemy_ this whole time. I just can’t believe you would go behind my back like this Katara,” Aang said. His eyes were full of hurt.

“I’m sorry Aang,” Katara said, but she was barely through the sentence when Aang opened his glider up, ran to the edge of the courtyard, and flew away.

“Aang!” Katara said, running after him to the edge of the cliff. The group watched as he flew off into the forest, disappearing in the trees. “You can’t run from things forever Aang!” Katara yelled, knowing she was probably going too far and that she had hurt him, but it really hurt for him to not listen to her.

___

After Toph and Sokka had calmed down, Katara joined Zuko, who was standing off to the side of the courtyard like he didn’t know what to do.

“I’m so sorry Katara,” Zuko said. “I really didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“Don’t worry,” Katara said. “Believe me, I knew what I was getting myself into when I helped you. They all just need some time to think about things. Aang tends to get like this when something happens that he can’t control … especially with me,” she said in a bitter tone. Zuko raised his eyebrow. “Let’s just be thankful for once that he can’t go into the avatar state.”

Zuko said, “When I was searching for the Avatar before I met all of you, I always thought he would be some wise old man. But he’s just a kid with a lot on his shoulders. As an exiled crown prince, I understand the pressure of that, and how it feels when it all slips away from you. He has to be feeling like he failed in the invasion right now, and he’s just taking it out on you.”

Katara looked at Zuko, not able to control the surprise that she felt from showing on her face. “Wow that’s … a really good way to put it.” She was shocked at how insightful he was. He usually just seemed like an air head when they had fought him in the past.

___

Zuko didn’t understand the way Katara was looking at him as she said, “Wow that’s … a really good way to put it.”

“I know the defeat in Ba Sing Se and what happened in the Fire Nation must be really hard for you guys, but I’m pretty used to failure,” Zuko said. “Struggling and fighting through these difficulties will only make you stronger. As long as he will accept me, I will help train Aang, and he will defeat my father.”

___

When Aang showed up later, the group had moved in a circle to an area of the courtyard where they had built their campfire. Likely due to hunger, Haru, Teo, and the Duke had come back from exploring the temple. Zuko had insisted on leaving the group to allow them time to discuss things, and coming back the next day to talk to them again.

___

The next day, Zuko was trying to figure out how to approach the group. They were together in the courtyard preparing for the day, when Zuko noticed that they weren’t alone. He had found A’li, a man known in the Fire Nation for his unique ability to shoot fire out of his third eye tattoo, eying the gang from a higher elevation. As the man prepared to fire, Zuko jumped in, knocking him off-balance, and causing his shot to be wild. After fighting A’li for a bit, the commotion and loud blast alerting the group to the attempted attack, the man pushed Zuko off the edge of the cliff they were on. Zuko barely survived by grabbing the root of a plant hanging on the rocks.

___

After climbing and pulling himself up the plant root and back into the air temple courtyard, Zuko approached the group again.

“I can't believe I'm saying this, but ... thanks, Zuko,” Aang said.

“Hey, what about me?” Sokka said, raising his arms in emphasis. “I did the boomerang thing.”

“Listen,” Zuko said. “I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday, I've been through a lot in the last few years, and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right. All I want to do now is play my part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world. I truly think my role now, is teaching you firebending Aang. Fire can be dangerous and wild, but as I’ve learned from my Uncle, it is the element of power. Firebending requires a strong desire and will, and with the right energy and drive, you will be able to achieve anything with proper control of it.

Aang turned to Zuko with wide eyes and a thoughtful look. “I think you _are_ supposed to be my firebending teacher,” Aang said. “When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara, and after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how important controlling fire is. I'd like you to teach me.” Aang bowed to Zuko.

Katara had mixed feelings. She was happy that Aang was finally open to giving Zuko a chance, but part of her was still almost expecting the Fire Nation to show up behind him. After so long of seeing him as her enemy, it was hard to allow herself to trust Zuko, especially with what she had experienced with trusting others in the past and being manipulated into doing things she didn’t want to do … like with Jet and Hama.

Zuko bowed back to Aang with a hesitant smile. “Thank you. I'm so happy you've accepted me into your group.”

“Not so fast. I still have to ask my friends if it's okay with them,” Aang said. He looked to Toph first. “Toph, what do you think?”

“Go ahead and let him join. Anyone who’s spent as much time with Iroh as he has can’t be too bad,” Toph said jokingly.

Aang turned to Sokka. “Sokka?”

“Hey, all I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then, I'm all for it,” Sokka said.

Aang approached Katara next and said, “Katara?”

“I’ll go along with whatever you think is right,” Katara said. Aang was smiling back at her and she was was relieved that this was _his_ choice. She was glad things had turned out this way, without her having to try too hard to convince them, when even she wasn’t _fully_ trusting of Zuko yet.

Zuko approached the group looking excited. “I won't let you down! I promise!” Zuko said.

Katara started to turn away to get back to her morning tasks, but then suddenly a figure dropped down from above the ceiling on the edge of the courtyard, scaling down the rocks with a scrapping noise from two long hooks. Messy dark hair covered his eyes as he surveyed the group, his signature piece of wheat suspended from his mouth. It was like looking at a ghost. Katara heard a strangled, “Jet?” come from her own mouth.

“Hey Katara,” Jet said with a lazy grin, his face coming into view as he took a step into the light. “Hey guys,” he said looking at Aang, Sokka, and Toph. “Your group has grown again, huh?” he said, turning to spot Zuko on the edge of the group. It was like an electric current passed from Jet to Zuko and back, their eyes both going wide. “What the hell is he doing here?” Jet suddenly darted between the group and Zuko, holding his right hook sword out protectively directly in front of Sokka and Toph.

“Jet?” Zuko groaned.

“Thanks to you, I spent weeks imprisoned by the Dai Li and almost died!” Jet said, pointing at him with his left hook.

“Thanks to me?” Zuko said. “You’re the one who attacked _me_!”

“Because you’re firebending scum!” Jet said.

Zuko was surprisingly calm as he said, “Look, I don’t have time for your rivalry anymore, there are more important things … like ending the war! Peace, freedom, equality. Isn’t that what your gang wants?”

Jet laughed humorlessly, “Ending the war?” he laughed again. “You guys hear Lee preaching about ending the war? I’m telling you, he’s a damn firebender, all they’re good for is spreading the war.” He moved suddenly, his hooks grazing the area Zuko had been standing in as Zuko ducked and moved away from him.

“Lee? Who’s Lee?” Sokka said incredulously. Was that all he took out of this confrontation? Katara noticed the passiveness of Zuko’s stance. Jet was like the perfect juxtaposition to Zuko, his body all tensed up like a snake ready to strike. Katara had never seen Jet so angry before.Before Lake Laogai he had been so smooth and under control. Now he was definitely off balanced.

“Jet, I don’t want to fight you,” Zuko said.

“Jet, stop!” Aang yelled. “He’s on our side! He’s going to teach me firebending now!” Zuko’s eyes widened and darted to Jet.

It was like a switch had been flipped. “You _are_ a firebender!” Jet screamed, running full on at Zuko. Again, Zuko was using evasive maneuvers instead of attacking Jet directly.

“Please stop, Jet,” Zuko grunted, “let’s talk this out!”

After a couple of close calls where Jet almost took Zuko’s head off with his swords, Katara had enough. Why wasn’t Zuko fighting back? Before she could overthink what she was about to do, Katara had moved, pulling a wave of water at Jet from the fountain, surrounding his limbs and using a cooling breath to freeze him in place.

“Damnit Katara!” Jet said, his form frozen by ice in an attack stance. “After what the Fire Nation did to your mother, you’re _protecting_ one of them?”

Anger suddenly washed over her body at the words and she was moving again. “How dare you?” Katara yelled, sidling up to stand between Jet and Zuko. “I thought you said you’d changed Jet. He said he didn’t want to fight.”

Toph sighed, “There goes Sugar Queen, ruining our entertainment for the day.”

“Yea Katara,” Sokka said. “Maybe angry jerk one and two will kill each other and we won’t have to deal with this anymore. I say let ‘em fight it out.”

Katara turned to Aang with an expectant look. “Um,” Aang said, rubbing his neck sheepishly. “Maybe we should just let them talk.” He motioned between Zuko and Jet. Katara crossed her arms angrily and walked away from Jet to stand with Aang.

“Any chance of letting me out so we can _really_ talk it out?” Jet smiled his most charming smile at Katara. At her stony expression and silence, he tried a different tactic. “I mean I did almost die not too long ago. This ice can’t be good for…”

“It will melt!” Katara said.

Toph and Sokka burst into a fit of giggles, barely stopping at the look Katara gave them.

“What happened after we … I mean _you_ got away from the Dai Li?” Zuko said.

Jet looked thoughtful for a moment. Then suddenly, his face twisted into agony, his neck trembling as he tried to move his frozen limbs. “My head!”

“Jet!” Katara ran to him, bending some water from the ground that had spilled from her attack. She brought her glowing palms to his temples, and watched as his expression slowly eased and he stopped yelling. “His chi is still all weird from being brain washed,” she said. After a few minutes of spreading her glowing hands around his head, she stopped and stepped back.

Jet sighed out, “Thank you Katara. That feels better.” 

“Ohhhh, thank you Katara,” Toph mocked softly, and Sokka laughed with her again. Katara moved away from Jet, glaring at Toph.

“Soooooo,” Zuko said, startling Katara with how close she had gotten to him. He’d been so quiet she forgot he was there. “What happened after you got away from the Dai Li?” Zuko tried again.

“Well after these guys,” Jet said nudging his head toward Aang, Toph, Sokka and Katara, “found me and we confronted the Dai Li when they were looking for Appa, I almost died. Katara patched me up, then I woke up a ways away from the prison. I found Smellerbee and Longshot, they took me to an herbalist and I healed up for a while. We heard about the invasion from a message from The Duke and Pipsqueak, but I couldn’t make it in time. I got here as soon as I could. Smellerbee and Longshot didn’t want to come. Said they couldn’t stand seeing me go down this path again and they’re done. They were gonna look for somewhere ‘quiet’ in the Earth Kingdom to settle down.” Jet rolled his eyes. “After hearing about Ba Sing Se I’d say nowhere is quiet these days with Fire Nation crawling all over the place. Apparently, there’s even one in this air temple! Really Lee? How the hell did he end up here?” Jet glared at Zuko, his eyes then swiveling accusingly around the group.

“My name,” Zuko said, “is Zuko.” Jet turned his head toward him, and everyone went still at the intensity of Zuko’s voice. “Ex- Fire Prince Zuko. I was banished from the Fire Nation over three years ago. I’ve been considered a traitor to the Fire Nation for quite a while. I was in Ba Sing Se with my Uncle to start a new life when you came along trying to ruin it.” 

Jet stared at Zuko, his eyes wide and mouth open. After a few moments Sokka said, “I think you broke Jet.” Sokka suddenly started poking Jet on the head with his sword’s hilt.

After a few seconds of poking, Jet yelled, “Cut it out Sokka! I’m just surprised. I thought you guys said this Zuko guy was chasing you around trying to catch Aang. Why is he with you now?”

Aang said sheepishly, “It’s a long story. Basically Zuko, uh,” he paused, fumbling over his words.

“I realized that my destiny is not to catch the Avatar, but to train him in firebending. To help bring peace to the world again. We were just talking about it before you,” Zuko paused, rolling his left hand for emphasis and said sarcastically, “dropped in.”

Sokka laughed, “Dropped in. Good one.” At Zuko’s smile Sokka seemed to realize who’s joke he was laughing at because he sobered up quickly.

Katara sighed heavily. “I’m going to start making lunch. I swear Jet, if you start attacking Zuko again I’m going to push you off the cliff.” She moved her arms and the ice around Jet turned back into water, falling to the ground and leaving him soaked. She turned stiffly and dramatically walked away from the group.

____

“Now that was hot,” Jet said with a smirk.

“It was _ice_ ,” Zuko said, not understanding.

Jet smacked his forehead. “No, I mean hot as in cute, attractive,” he waved his right arm around, talking like he was explaining to a child.

Zuko’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. “Riiiiight,” he said.

Sokka was flailing around making weird noises, “Did you just? He called my sister hot!” Aang’s expression was strangled, his mouth opening and closing to come up with something to say, making him look like a fish out of water trying to breathe.

Toph snorted, saying, “I have a feeling things are going to be a lot more entertaining around here now.”

Aang took several deep breaths before saying, “So Jet, are you staying? Our goal hasn’t changed. We’re taking down the Fire Nation with or without you.” Zuko winced inwardly at Aang’s words. He knew he was in the right place now, but even after everything his family had done to him, it was still difficult to think about hurting his own nation. “I’m the Avatar, Jet. No matter how you feel about the Fire Nation, I have to learn firebending to defeat the Fire Lord.”

Jet swung his swords once, sliding each into the sides of his belt. “I’m here to help. I’m sorry about the past Aang, Sokka,” he said nodding to each of them. “I want to make it right now. I’ll do whatever I can, whatever you need me to do. Let’s take down the Fire Nation swine,” he said, his eyes darting to Zuko.

Sokka and Aang nodded at each other. “Let’s get you guys settled in,” Sokka said, Toph following him as they went inside. Zuko and Jet eyed each other warily, then Zuko followed them to the dorm area of the temple. Zuko would really have to keep his guard up with Jet around. He did not trust that guy at all.

___

It was evening, and the group was sitting around the fire in the courtyard eating together.

“Katara, what does this make?” Sokka said. “The fourth time you’ve been in prison? The first time you got arrested for earthbending, the second time was with Toph and her scams, the third time was in Ba Sing Se with Azula, and now I find out you willingly walked into a Fire Nation prison … to save Jerkbender!”

“Hey!” Zuko said, distastefully at the nickname.

“Katara got arrested for earthbending?” Toph said.

“She got this craaaazy idea to save Haru from prison by getting herself arrested for earthbending. We set up this whole elaborate scene, and Aang used airbending to lift a rock up.”

“Niiiice,” Toph said.

“Katara got herself into trouble to save me and my people,” Haru said. “She’s inspiring.” Katara blushed at the praise.

“What about the time when I had to help save her from the pirates?” Zuko said in a teasing tone. Katara’s eyes widened in surprise at Zuko’s words.

“Oh yeah! Boy, you sure do get yourself into a lot of trouble Katara,” Sokka said. “Stealing, gambling, prison escapes.”

“Dude,” Jet said. “How does it feel that your sister is more of a badass than you?” 

At Jet’s words, a shocked Sokka spit out his water and the projectile hit Katara’s clothes. “Eww Sokka!” Katara shrieked, bending the water off of herself and back in his face. He spluttered.

“I-I was there too!” Sokka said, wiping the water off of his face. “I helped plan most of those! Except for stealing the waterbending scroll, that was all on Katara,” Sokka said.

“It was a precious relic of our people, stolen by pirates!” Katara exclaimed.

“If it was so precious, why did you give it to Wan Shi Tong?” Sokka said.

Katara smacked her forehead, “He needed pieces of knowledge. I already memorized the forms on the scroll. You gave the owl a knot of rope, like you can talk at all!”

“Hey, that was a good quality knot, made out of good quality rope!” Sokka said.

“I thought it looked like a great knot Sokka,” Toph said.

“See,” Sokka said, “Toph knows … why do you feel the need to do that?” Sokka grumbled. The group laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jet has arrived! More details of how he survived will be revealed in later chapters. I'm sure there will be mixed feelings toward Jet, but just as in the show, he serves a purpose in this story. Jet is Zuko's foil, and I think that adds an interesting dynamic and rivalry to this story, just like we saw in the show. Jet brings so much comedic potential to the story...like did the writers really think the best thing was to just kill him off? Although his death was really unclear XD. Seriously though, both Sokka and Katara's first loves died tragic deaths, that's rough buddy!
> 
> I did take out the Zuko burning Toph's feet situation. It...just wasn't needed and didn't work with the timeline here, since Zuko stays talking to the group for quite a while, and they're less hostile toward him, Toph didn't need to go after him. Also, I always kind of felt like that happening in the story was odd...for Zuko to accidentally burn Toph, and then Aang be like - omg you have so much control of your bending please be my teacher!
> 
> If Katara seems too angry to anyone, I promise things will get better and there will be Zutara moments soon. As Katara says in this story, she has been manipulated a lot in the past, and I feel like she would still have trust issues with Zuko, though she would be less rude and ugly toward him like she was in the show.
> 
> Thank you for reading! I greatly appreciate any reviews, follows, and faves! Let me know what you think!


	4. The Firebending Masters

The next day, everyone was settled around the campfire eating. Katara was holding her bowl of food when she noticed Zuko approach the group. “Listen everybody,” Zuko said. “I’ve got some pretty bad news. I've lost my stuff.” Zuko looked down at the ground, his face dejected.

Toph raised both her hands up, “Don’t look at me,” she said folding her arms. “I didn’t touch your stuff.”

“I’m talking about my firebending. It's gone.”

“Gone?” Katara said with a gasp.

“Well, it's not completely gone. It's just,” Zuko paused, “weaker for some reason. I wasn’t allowed to bend when I was in prison … I’m not sure when this started.”

“Damn, if you weren’t a jerkbender anymore you would be slightly more tolerable,” Jet said. “Though I’d say you could take the fire out of prince hot pants and he’s still Fire Nation scum.”

Zuko’s eyebrow twitched but otherwise he showed no sign of hearing Jet. He seemed lost in thought. “I bet it’s because I changed sides,” Zuko said.

“You think that would make your bending weaker?” Katara said, drinking from her bowl.

Aang nodded and said, “Maybe your firebending comes from rage and you just don't have enough anger to fuel it the way you used to.”

Sokka leaned toward Zuko and pointed a finger above. “Sooo, all we need to do is make Zuko angry. Easy enough.” Sokka poked Zuko with his sword's hilt in the head and waist several times, laughing.

Jet laughed, “Sokka that stunt is much funnier when you’re doing it to _Lee_ and not me.”

“Okay, cut it out!” Zuko said. Sokka stopped poking him, as his sword fell from his hands and was thrown above, before falling on his head. Zuko rubbed his nose, turning a stern look to Jet. “And it’s _Zuko_ ,” he said, sounding annoyed. “Look, even if you're right, I don't want to rely on hate and anger anymore. There has to be another way.”

“You're gonna need to learn to draw your firebending from a different source. I recommend the original source,” Toph said, eating from her bowl of food.

Sokka appeared to get a sudden burst of excitement, “How's he supposed to do that? By jumping into a volcano?”

“Maaaaybe we should try lighting him on fire,” Jet said with a grin.

“No,” Toph said. “Zuko needs to go back to whatever the original source of firebending is.”

“So is it jumping into a volcano?” Sokka said in a serious tone, Jet laughing in response.

“I don’t know,” Toph said putting her bowl down. “For earthbending, the original benders were badgermoles.” Toph proceeded to tell her story about how as a child she ran into and learned earthbending from badgermoles. At the end, Katara found herself thinking about the origins of waterbending. She had been taught as a young girl about waterbenders learning to push and pull water from the ocean and moon spirits.

“That’s amazing Toph!” Aang said. “I learned from the monks, but the original airbenders were the sky bison.” Aang leaned back to look at Appa. “Maybe you can give me a lesson sometime, buddy.” Appa growled in response from the shed.

“Well, this doesn't help me. The original firebenders were the dragons, and they're extinct,” Zuko said.

“What do you mean?” Aang said in surprise. “Roku had a dragon, and there were plenty of dragons when I was a kid.”

Zuko frowned and angrily said, “Well, they aren’t around anymore, okay?”

After a pause, Jet said, “Yeah because Fire Nation scum killed them all.” Aang gasped. At Katara’s glare, Jet said defensively, “What, he should know the truth. He’s the Avatar. Coddling him isn’t going to help defeat the Fire Lord.”

Zuko sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “Another thing my people have done that makes me ashamed.”

“Yeah,” Jet said. “You should be ashamed.”

Katara wasn’t sure why almost everything Jet said since he joined the group was irritating her. Maybe because he had hurt her so much in the past she wanted him to hurt too? She knew they had a bad history, but Zuko didn’t deserve the hate that Jet kept relentlessly throwing at him. She knew it was petty but she couldn’t stop herself. “I’m sure you know allll about shame, Jet,” Katara said. Jet turned to her with a surprised look of hurt.

“Ooooooo lover’s quarrel,” Toph said.

“We’re not…!” Katara stood and threw her hands up in anger, knowing Toph was just trying to get under her skin. It was working. “We’re not a couple.” Katara said, as calmly as she could, sitting down with a huff and crossing her arms in front of her chest. She tried taking deep calming breaths.

Zuko’s eyebrow was raised. He cleared his throat. “Anyways … maybe there’s another way,” Zuko said, walking toward the fountain. “The first people to learn from the dragons were the ancient Sun Warriors.”

“Sun Warriors? Well, I know they weren't around when I was a kid,” Aang said.

“No, they died off thousands of years ago,” Zuko said. “But their civilization wasn't too far from where we are now.” Zuko turned his head toward Aang. “Maybe we can learn something by poking around their ruins.”

Aang said, “It's like the monks used to tell me. Sometimes, the shadows of the past can be felt by the present.”

“So what,” Sokka said. “Maybe you'll pick up some super old Sun Warrior energy just by standing where they stood a thousand years ago?” he said waving his arms around.

“More or less. Either I find a new way to firebend, or the Avatar has to find a new teacher,” Zuko said.

“So,” Jet said. “You two are going on a trip to some dumb old Fire Nation ruin?” Zuko and Aang nodded. Jet smiled, “I’ll be sure to keep Katara safe and warm while you’re gone.” Jet suddenly put his arm around Katara’s shoulders.

She jerked away from him, standing to glare at him with a fierce look on her face. At some point she had bent water to her hands and frozen them into icy points on her fingers, which she held raised threateningly at her side. “I don’t need your protection Jet. If you keep acting like this, you’re the one who’s gonna need protection from me.” With a jerk of her hands the icy spikes hit the ground near Jet’s feet, and he winced.

___

“Ouch,” Toph said.

Sokka guffawed as Katara walked away. “You know you deserve that,” Sokka said to Jet. He stood to follow her, slyly saying, “Water tribe,” and crossing his arms as he made his exit. Because of how Jet had manipulated his sister, Sokka disliked him even more than Zuko, and that was saying a lot.

___

It wasn’t Zuko’s fault really. At least that’s what he tried telling himself. It had all started with Aang saying, “Zuko, get over here! I want you to dance with me!”

Zuko had been hesitant at first, but soon gave in and they followed the statue’s poses of the ‘Dancing Dragon’. Then a mystical egg-shaped gemstone had appeared out of the floor. Zuko had picked it up and held it. It felt warm and alive. And then slime poured into the room. They had tried to escape but there was no way out. They’d moved toward a metal grate that was open to the air, but were unable to get through it. Now the front of Zuko and Aang’s bodies were against the grate, a sticky glue-like substance under them pushing them upward. Zuko was trying to not panic.

“It stopped,” Aang said as the slime stopped filling the room.

“At least we have air,” Zuko said. “Maybe if we stay calm, we can figure a way out of this.” This was all talk, because inside Zuko’s mind he was not calm at all. He could see no way out of this situation. He started to wonder, if they didn’t make it out of this, how long it would take Team Avatar to decide to come after them.

A few minutes later Aang said, “You _had_ to pick up the glowing egg, didn’t you?”

“At least I made something happen. If it were up to you, we'd never have made it past the courtyard,” Zuko said.

Aang opened his mouth very widely and yelled, “Help!”

“Who are you yelling to? Nobody's lived here for centuries,” Zuko said.

“Well,” Aang said, “what do you think we should do?”

When Zuko was in tough situations lately, he tried to think of what his uncle would do or say, so he replied, “Think about our place in the universe?”

____

Katara was practicing her waterbending after breakfast, when Jet strutted up to her. “Hey Kat,” he said, disturbing her during a difficult move, and causing her to drop a lot of water on the courtyard ground. Some of the water hit both of their legs, and she turned to him annoyed.

“What?” she said a bit snappy.

Jet raised an eyebrow at her. “Sorry for bothering you,” he said. “I was just … I guess I’m just worried about Aang going off alone with Zuko. I know you guys seem to trust him now, but … I mean he was your enemy not too long ago.”

Katara froze at his words. Truthfully, there was a small part of her that was worried about it, but she wouldn’t give Jet anything to work with. After Jet joined the group, Zuko had told her about his run-ins with Jet in Ba Sing Se. She knew this was all about hate, and Jet’s prejudice toward anyone from the Fire Nation. “Of course I’m not worried,” Katara said. “If I was, I wouldn’t have let them go.”

“But how can you be sure you can trust him?” Jet said.

Katara turned her whole body to face him, her eyes blazing. “Zuko has done more to gain my trust than you have Jet. He sacrificed himself for Aang and I in Ba Sing Se. He went to prison, and was going to be executed for us. He may be from the Fire Nation, but his nationality doesn’t define him, his choices do.”

Jet seemed surprised, but he nodded. “Ok Katara,” he said. “I understand now.” There was a hard look in his eyes as Katara went back to her bending practice.

___

Katara was lost in thought as the group sat together eating lunch in the large open-air courtyard of the Western Air Temple. Her conversation with Jet had her thinking about the risk they were taking in trusting Aang with Zuko. Aang was their only hope for defeating the Fire Lord. If anything bad happened to him and they had let him go with Zuko … no she couldn’t think about it. Like she’d told Jet, Zuko had sacrificed himself for Aang, he wouldn’t do anything to hurt him. She kept going back and forth, wrestling with these thoughts, when Toph’s voice pulled her out of it.

“So,” Toph said, “what’s with the hook swords?”

“What do you mean?” Jet said.

“I mean what’s the point of the hooks?” Toph said. “Of all the weapons, why have hooks? With my seismic sense and metalbending, I’ve been noticing the weapons that people carry with them. Hook swords aren’t very common.”

Jet smiled. “The hooks were great for moving around when the Freedom Fighters had our base in a forest. I could grip the trees with the hooks and swing easily from tree to tree. I had to go through a few forests to get here actually. They’re pretty useful for rock climbing too,” he said, gesturing to all the rocks around them.

Toph’s face shifted from surprise to a wide grin. She sat, clearly thinking for a few moments. “So, you dart around from tree to tree? And you climb things?” Toph said.

“Yea, that’s what I just said,” Jet said, his eyebrows furrowing.

Toph punched his arm suddenly, “Okay, Sugar Glider.”

There was a long moment of silence. “What?” Jet said. “What do those weird bat squirrels have to do with anything?”

“Toph likes to give out nicknames,” Katara said fondly, with a roll of her eyes.

“Sure do Sugar Queen,” Toph said. “And now I found a pretty good matching nickname for your Sugar Glider over here.”

Jet smirked. Katara felt so irritated, she thought that if _she_ had been a firebender at that moment, she would have had no problem with bending.

_____

Zuko and Aang had been brought to a bridge on the side of a mountain by the Sun Warriors to meet the judgement of the firebending masters. Two eyes glowed inside a cave and a red dragon came out, roaring and circling around the bridge Zuko and Aang were standing on. They both took a step back. A blue dragon came out of the other cave and joined the other dragon as they circled the bridge.

“These are the masters,” Zuko said, a note of awe in his voice.

In a low voice Aang responded, “Still think we can take ‘em?”

“Sssshhhh, I never said that,” Zuko said.

After the display of the dragons’ fire, Zuko and Aang had descended the steps and were with the Sun Warriors. Zuko had a realization about firebending as they were all talking. “It's like the Sun,” Zuko said, curling his hand into a fist over his chest, “but inside of you. Do you guys realize this?”

The Sun Warrior Chief smiled, “Well, our civilization _is_ called the Sun Warriors ... so yeah.”

“That's why my firebending was so weak before. Because for so many years, hunting you,” Zuko said, turning to Aang, “was my drive ... it was my purpose.” Aang turned toward Zuko as well _._ “So when I joined you, I lost sight of my inner fire. But now, I have a new drive. I have to help you defeat my father and restore balance to the world.”

___

Back at the Western Air Temple, Zuko and Aang demonstrated the Dancing Dragon to the rest of Team Avatar and friends. “With this technique the dragons showed us, Zuko and I will be unstoppable!” Aang said. The two got in their final poses and Team Avatar applauded.

“Yeah, that's a great dance you two learned there,” Sokka said.

“It’s super cute, I’m happy for you two,” Jet said, looking amused.

“It's not a dance,” Zuko said, “it's a firebending form.” He was clearly getting irritated, his voice a bit defensive.

“We'll just tap-dance our way to victory over the Fire Lord,” Sokka said moving his fingers in a dancing motion.

“It's a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old!” Zuko said angrily.

“What’s the form called?” Katara said with a grin. She was realizing she liked seeing Zuko flustered. It was cute.

Zuko looked down at the ground as he said, “The Dancing Dragon.” Zuko shut his eyes and cringed, looking embarrassed as Team Avatar laughed.

___

Later that night, Jet knocked on Katara’s door. “Kat,” he said. “I think we need to talk.” Katara’s face was expressionless as she stepped aside to let him in. Her arms were crossed over her chest protectively, her lips in a thin line. “I just wanted to tell you again. I’m really sorry for what happened in the past. But I swear, I want to make it right now. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Katara’s blue eyes were shiny in the moonlight. “I know,” she said, turning away from him. “I’m just so mad at you Jet,” she turned her gaze on him, her face vulnerable, “I thought you were dead,” she choked out. It was like a dam had broken as tears started spilling from her eyes. She swiped at them angrily.

“Katara,” Jet said, moving toward her. She backed away slowly, a scared look in her eyes. Jet stopped his advance. “Katara?” he reached his hand out toward her.

She hesitantly reached out and took his hand, sighing. His thumb slowly moved across the back of her hand. Suddenly she moved toward him, her arms wrapping around him as she hid her face in his chest. “I’m glad you’re alive,” she said quietly. “The world seemed a little darker without your stupid smirk.”

Jet laughed as she quickly pulled away from his embrace and they stared at each other. “I’m glad you’re alive too, Katara,” he said. “I want to be completely open and honest with all of you this time. I know it will take time to gain your trust back, but everything is worth getting to see you again. Maybe we can call each other friends again soon … or you know.” He winked at her.

She rolled her eyes at his hopeful grin, moving further away from him. “I’ll just focus on not wanting to kill you for now.”

“You know Kat,” Jet said. “The line between love and hate is a very thin one.”

She furrowed her brows at him. “Okay love guru, I said I don’t hate you for now, so you can get out before you dig yourself another hole.”

Jet smirked as he walked back to her door. “I sailed across several rivers, trudged through forests, and climbed a mountain with the hope of just seeing you again. I’m pretty sure I could maneuver my way out of a hole Katara.” He winked at her shocked expression as he walked out and closed the door.

___

Zuko was about to knock on Katara’s door, when Jet suddenly came out of it, closing it behind him. They quietly glared at each other a moment, before Jet said, “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same,” Zuko said.

“I was just saying goodnight to my girlfriend,” Jet said.

Since when were they dating? It was such a small tight knit group, Zuko thought he would have known something like that. “Your girlfriend?” Zuko said.

“Yea … Katara. We were together before we got split up at Lake Laogai, and we rekindled things the day I got here.”

As soon as Jet had shown up, Zuko had pulled Katara aside and told her about his previous run-ins with Jet in Ba Sing Se. His heart sank. He felt like he’d been sucker-punched. She had seemed so genuinely shocked and upset for him. He had opened up to Katara about how Jet had relentlessly tried to ruin his life when he was trying to change, and then Katara turned around and started dating him? “I … just want to talk to her,” Zuko said quietly.

“I don’t trust you alone with her,” Jet said, narrowing his eyes. “Scram, Hot Pants,” Jet stood directly in front of her door, clearly daring Zuko to try to get past him. It was tempting, but he knew it would only end up making him look bad to fight Jet just to talk to Katara.

“Fine,” Zuko said, turning away to go back to his own room. “But, Katara is smart enough to make her own choices about who she talks to.” Zuko gloomily walked back to his room.

___

Katara was restless that night. She found herself quietly walking out to the courtyard trying to calm her mind. As she walked by Zuko’s room, she considered stopping to talk to him … but he was probably asleep by now and wouldn’t appreciate being woken up. She sighed and decided to head to the fountain for some bending. She was surprised to see a figure on the edge of the courtyard, aggressively swinging a sword around. Katara found herself frozen to the spot, peeking around the corner of the hallway she was coming from. She stood there for a while, watching Zuko, his body glistening from the moonlight with sweat as he moved. Suddenly he turned to her.

“It’s a bit rude to spy on people,” Zuko rasped out, his voice breaking the quiet.

Katara jumped at being caught. “Ahhhh um sorry,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck and blushing. “You just seemed so focused, I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Why are you up anyways? Or did you think I was Jet?” Zuko said, his voice grumpy.

Katara felt her eyebrows raise in confusion. “Jet?” she laughed. “I’d way rather it be you.”

Zuko looked surprised, “Oh.” He said intelligently.

Katara approached him slowly. “I wanted to thank you Zuko. Aang hasn’t been excited about firebending since he accidentally burned me. I’ve tried to talk to him about it. I didn’t want to be the reason the Avatar never learned firebending. But … you’ve already brought him out of that. He’s more himself now thanks to you.”

Zuko was blushing. “Ahhh … well … of course. It’s the least I could do after … everything.”

Katara walked closer to him, “Why are _you_ up anyways?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Zuko said. “Training usually helps to calm me down.”

“You mind if I watch some?” Katara said. “I also couldn’t sleep. I thought being outside might help.”

“Sure,” Zuko said with a nod.

Katara backtracked to the fountain, leaning against one of the large arching columns surrounding it and sitting down. The floor was hard, but the rock she sat on was cool, the air thick with spray from the water hitting the circular fountain. The sound of the water was calming. Zuko’s practiced movements were mesmerizing, she watched him slice through the air, swing after swing, almost like he was dancing alone. Her eyes slowly drifted closed, and she fell asleep, feet away from her past enemy.

___

Katara woke up with sunlight hitting her face. She blinked against it, jolting awake as she realized where she was. She had fallen asleep against the fountain … but someone had moved a sleeping bag under her head, and had covered her with a red blanket. She stared at the foreign blanket for a while. There was only one person that could belong to. As she woke up more fully, she realized she wasn’t alone.

“Hey, Sweetness is awake,” Toph said from the other side of the courtyard. Katara slowly stood and looked across the fountain to see some of her friends starting to make breakfast. “Rough night Sugar Queen?” Toph said.

Katara quickly folded the blanket, carrying it to the circle. “You could say that,” Katara said. She noticed Jet eyeing the blanket, and smiled. “Zuko kept me company though.”

Sokka snorted, “Excuse me, what now?”

Katara laughed. “Relax Sokka. He was just training, and we talked a little bit.”

Toph frowned as she said, “Why wasn’t I invited? I thought we were watching him train this afternoon. You’re holding out on me Sugar Queen.”

“What’s so interesting about watching _Zuko_ train anyways?” Jet grumbled. 

Aang and Zuko suddenly walked up to the group, having finished their morning training session. They didn’t seem to notice that the group had gotten quiet at their approach, and Aang babbled excitedly about what Zuko had taught him. Zuko wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel, his abs glistening as he slowly pulled his shirt back on and sat with the group.

Jet’s eyebrow was raised. “Ah … I see.Maybe I should train without my shirt on too.”

“Wouldn’t make a difference to me,” Toph said. “My feet already see all.” Zuko shifted uncomfortably.

“Toph!” Sokka blushed scarlet.

“What?” Aang said, completely oblivious.

Katara was laughing, “We are so gonna have to talk about this later Toph. I think you’re the one who’s been holding out on me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: In the words of Azula, "You can laugh. It's funny." For anyone who read the last chapter early on, I did cut a scene out. I just wanna say (about a few hate comments/flames I got), I literally took months of my free time to write this story for fun, laughing and writing scenes with my friend Shelby. It has been a labor of love for the show and for Zutara.
> 
> Last week I was a bit de-spirited and truly shocked by responses I got (on AO3, FF . net users were much kinder), as this is supposed to be a dramatic/comedic Zutara story. And to the people pressed over Jet being here ... it's in the summary that he's alive LOL. I hate him too, ok? I understand how you feel, he is here to be like the Sokka that you hate, lmao. You guys, this isn't the whole story. It's a slow burn Zutara. So I hope you stick around for more craziness to come, but I understand if it's not your cup of tea.
> 
> Thank you for reading, I seriously appreciate any comments!


	5. The Boiling Rock

Katara was walking around the courtyard when she noticed Momo was holding a note. She took it and began to read.

“What does it say?” Toph said.

“’Need meat. Gone fishing. Back in a few days. Sokka and Zuko.’” As she said this, Aang yawned and turned around to lie back down. “One more thing. ‘Aang, practice your firebending while I'm gone. Do twenty sets of fire fists and ten hot squats every time you hear a badgerfrog croak. Zuko.’” A few moments later, a badgerfrog croaked.

Aang sighed, “Nobody else has homework.” He stood up and walked to a spot and started hot squatting. “One hot squat, two hot squat, three hot squat, four hot squat …,” Katara heard as she and Toph walked away.

___

Zuko and Sokka were on Zuko’s war balloon on the way to Boiling Rock to rescue Sokka and Katara’s dad. They had been talking for a bit, trying to fill the silence.

“My first girl-friend turned into the moon,” Sokka was saying.

Zuko was shocked for a moment and didn’t know how to respond. He looked up at the sky briefly, before glancing back at Sokka. “That's rough, buddy,” he said.

After a few more minutes of silence, Zuko said, “What’s the story with your sister and Jet?”

“Ahhh, Jet,” Sokka said. “Well he was Katara’s first boyfriend, and he used her and Aang to try and flood this whole Fire Nation town. I realized what was going on before anyone got hurt, I led the townspeople out to safety. Jet would’ve let all those innocent people die. Thing about Katara is, she cares about people a lot, no matter where they’re from. She was devastated that he tried to use her that way to hurt innocent people. That’s the last thing she’d want to do. So now she hates his guts,” he said.

Zuko was surprised. So, Jet had been telling the truth about dating Katara. But did that mean they were _secretly_ dating now? How could he talk to Sokka about it further without potentially breaking her trust? He’d have to ask her about it later.

Zuko said, “It’s hard to be around someone you used to love when they’ve hurt you. It’s kind of how I felt when I was imprisoned in the Fire Nation. It felt like a nightmare. I realized everything I had previously worked toward was empty. No one there cares for me, not the way my Uncle does. I’ve made so many mistakes.” He sighed. “One of the only good things I’ve done in the last few years is saving Katara and Aang in the crystal catacombs in Ba Sing Se. But I guess I had to go through everything else to realize what my true destiny was.”

Sokka stared at Zuko thoughtfully. “You know,” Sokka said, “you should really tell Katara everything you just said. I know she’s feeling … guilty right now for lying to us. She really did beg us for months to help get you out of prison. If it weren’t so impossible to get into the Fire Nation, she probably would have tried a long time ago. She could have been captured, or died trying to save you.”

Zuko gave him a sheepish look. “Right … yeah I should talk to her more about it. After we get your dad back.”

“Right,” Sokka said with a hopeful smile.

____

Things had been awkward for Katara with Jet around, ever since their heart-to-heart in her room. She didn’t know how to feel about him. She knew objectively that she was attracted to him. Even Toph seemed a bit smitten. With Zuko and Jet joining, the group dynamic had changed a lot. Katara didn’t mind the extra eye candy, but her history with Jet threw her off. There had been a time she thought she was in love with him, but that had been as fleeting as her trust in him. Now whenever she was around him, she felt discomfort, like she was out of her element. She knew he was joking most of the time, poking around to see how she would react to his advances, but him flirting with her now just made her want to run.

She had been so relieved when Zuko returned with Aang after their trip to the Sun Warriors. It was another positive step forward in him gaining her trust. Jet on the other hand was just irritating her. He was so used to being the center of attention with the Freedom Fighters, it was like he was trying to establish himself as a leader again.

“Hey Katara,” Jet said suddenly, from next to her.

Katara jumped, “Oh hey Jet, I didn’t see you there.”

“And _I’m_ the blind one,” Toph said snarkily.

“Look Katara,” Jet said with a sigh. He looked around the group nervously. “Can we talk?”

“Sure,” Katara said. At this he nodded and turned, leading her to the far edge of the courtyard away from everyone. Toph was definitely paying attention to them and she knew the rest of the group would be asking her about this later.

“Katara,” Jet said seriously. “I’m not trying to make things weird, but I’ve been feeling this … tension around you. Maybe it’s all in my head, but I just had to ask.”

Katara bit her lip, trying to figure out how to respond. “I just don’t know how to act around you,” she said honestly.

Jet smiled softly, “You don’t have to act any differently. Just be yourself.”

Katara frowned at him. “It’s not like,” she paused sighing. “Look, we both know we have a connection. Chemistry, whatever,” she said rolling her hand in emphasis. She felt her cheeks light up with a blush. “But when we were together that way last time, well you know. It’s just weird for me to be around you now, after how I felt before.”

Jet frowned at her words. “I understand if you want to say no to this, and if it would make you uncomfortable, but when the Freedom Fighters had issues like this, we would spar together to let off steam. Have you trained much without bending? Maybe I could teach you some non-bending fighting. You’ll be able to let out some of your anger at me,” he said with a hopeful smile.

“Actually,” Katara said, “that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I know some fighting, of course, but it’s always good to be prepared for when I can’t use my bending. There’s this girl with the Fire Nation now who’s a chi blocker, and with a couple of arm hits, my bending is gone for a while.”

Jet’s eyes widened. “That’s no good Kat! We need to get you trained up ASAP! Come on,” he said with a grin, grabbing her hand to pull her to the area the group had been using for training. She smiled at his enthusiasm as she followed him.

___

Jet and Katara were sitting in the grass by the main Wester Air Temple courtyard, cooling off from their training. “On my way here, I ran into some orphans in a village in the Earth Kingdom,” Jet said. “One of the boys reminded me of myself when I was younger.” He stared down at the ground as he spoke. Katara stayed silent, wanting to give him a chance to get whatever he was thinking off of his chest. “I helped them out some. I know stealing is wrong, but I took food and money from some really rich people and gave it to the kids. They were starving Katara, and I’ve been there before. It’s the only way I could help them.”

Katara looked at him thoughtfully. She sighed. “Stealing is wrong of course. I learned the hard way that it always catches up to you. But I understand why you did it.”

Jet’s face lit up. “I knew you would understand Katara,” he said. “That’s what I want to do when the war is over, I want to help all the orphans left behind. I’ll do it the right way though, maybe by donations? I don’t know the logistics, but I know what it’s like to be an orphan, and I’ll do whatever I can to help them.”

“We know the Earth King from Ba Sing Se … well I mean the king before … Azula of course,” Katara said. “I’m sure we could get you an audience with him to discuss how to help. It would be amazing, I’m sure you’d really make a difference Jet.” In that moment, Katara was surprised to feel proud of him, and started to think she may have been wrong about him. Maybe he really _could_ change.

___

Around nightfall, an airship landed at the Western Air Temple. Team Avatar approached the ship warily. Zuko and Sokka exited, standing in front of Toph, Aang, Katara, and Jet.

“What are you doing in this thing?” Katara said. “What happened to the war balloon?” Her mind was running quickly through scenarios, trying to figure out what could have happened.

“It kind of got destroyed,” Zuko said.

“Sounds like a crazy fishing trip,” Aang said.

“Did you at least get some good meat?” Toph said.

“We did,” Sokka said with a smile. “The best meat of all. The meat of friendship and fatherhood.” Suddenly Suki, Hakoda, and Chit Sang exited the airship.

Chit Sang waved at them and said, “I’m new. What's up, everybody?”

Katara went into shock, frozen for a couple seconds, her eyes welling up with tears at the sight of Hakoda. “Dad?” she said, feeling overjoyed. She ran into his arms.

“Hi Katara,” her father said, embracing her. The hug felt like coming home.

Katara pulled back from the hug to look at his face. “How are you here?” She said. “What is going on? Where did you go?” She turned her head to look at Sokka and Zuko.

“We kinda went to a Fire Nation prison,” Sokka said. Hakoda pulled Sokka into the embrace.

From the side Toph said, “Seriously? You guys didn't find _any_ meat?”

___

Jet turned to Zuko, saying quietly, “You trying to make me look bad? I could have gone with you, I could have helped.”

“What?” Zuko said with surprise. “Make you look bad?” How?”

“I need to make things up to them as much as you do,” Jet said.

Zuko glared at him, “You would have only gotten in the way. We needed stealth, the more people we took the harder it would have been.”

“I’m great at stealth!” Jet said angrily.

Zuko replied with a huff, “Well it doesn’t matter now, we got them out anyways. Arguing about it won’t change anything!” Their voices had slowly risen in volume, and the group around them got quiet. It was suddenly apparent that everyone was staring at Jet and Zuko.

Sokka quickly understood what was happening. “Do you two really have to choose _now_ of all times to hate each other?” Sokka said.

Jet’s face twisted with guilt. “I’m sorry Sokka, it’s my fault. I was just telling Zuko that if I had a choice, I would have been a part of this rescue mission.”

Sokka’s face softened with understanding. “I knew that if I stuck around or told you guys what I was gonna do, you would all want to help. I … didn’t want anyone else to end up imprisoned because of me,” Sokka said. He looked down and the shame was evident on his face.

“Oh, I see,” Jet said. “You took Zuko because you didn’t mind if Jerkbender got imprisoned again,” Jet said with a smirk. Zuko glared at him.

Hakoda put a strong hand on Sokka’s shoulder, completely ignoring the banter. “It’s not your fault Sokka. Every one of us knew what we were getting into. We knew the risks. Besides, you should be proud right now, you helped us escape the highest security prison in the Fire Nation, son. We will make a new plan and help the others out, it will just take some time.”

Sokka nodded at him. “Thanks dad,” he said. They smiled at each other, and Hakoda’s pride was evident. “Dad, Suki,” he said. “This is Jet,” he motioned to Jet, whose anger had dissipated while watching the exchange with a strange expression.

Jet nodded and with a charming smile said, “Hi, I’m Jet. It’s nice to meet you, I’ve heard so much about you both.”

“Hello Jet,” Hakoda said in a clipped tone. “I’ve heard about you as well.” Jet’s eyes widened a bit in surprise and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, his eyes darting accusingly to Sokka. Sokka narrowed his eyes at Jet, a stern look on his face.

“I’m Suki.” Suki said sweetly, trying to dissipate the sudden negative energy. She held out her hand to Jet, who stepped forward to shake her hand. They gave each other sweeping warrior assessments.

“Nice to meet you Suki,” Jet said smoothly. After seeing the look Jet had on his face as the two stepped away from each other, Sokka stepped forward to put his arm around Suki.

“Let’s get you guys some food,” Sokka said, pulling Suki with him as he headed for their main camp.

“Well _that_ was exciting,” Toph said loudly as they all walked together. “It’s been boring without you two dunderheads. Only interesting thing has been Jet and Katara sparring together.” Sokka suddenly stopped walking.

___

Katara heard Toph say, “Only interesting thing has been Jet and Katara sparring together,” and Sokka suddenly stopped walking.

“Toph!” Katara gasped, feeling betrayed.

Sokka stepped away from Suki, turning to his sister. “Sparring … with _Jet_?”

Jet stepped to the side of them with a lazy smile. “Yeah, I’ve been showing her some non-bending fighting. You know, ways she could take Fire Nation down without her bending, if she ever needed to.”

Sokka’s mouth was wide open. “I could do that,” he said turning to Katara. “I didn’t know you would want to learn how to fight without bending.”

“Well you were gone,” Katara said defensively, “and no one’s ever asked before. I’d love to learn anything that would help me be a better fighter.”

“That’s my girl,” Hakoda said, and Katara smiled at his praise.

“I’d love to train with you Katara,” Suki said.

“Really?” Katara said, suddenly excited at the thought of training with such a talented Kyoshi Warrior.

“Of course,” Suki said with a laugh. “Sokka told me about what you did in the North to learn waterbending. You have a warrior’s heart.”

“I still don’t feel like it’s really necessary, Katara,” Aang said as they all approached their fire. At Katara’s heated gaze, he explained, “I mean Katara, you’re one of the best waterbenders I’ve ever seen, and you’re getting better every day,” he blushed. Jet snickered at Aang’s embarrassment, and Aang shot him a dirty look.

“Learning how to fight isn’t all about bending,” Zuko said. “I can’t tell you how many times the other skills I’ve learned have saved my life. A bender can’t always rely on just their bending.”

“I seem to manage just fine,” Toph said, suddenly bending herself an earth seat and sitting down with her feet up on an earth footstool to emphasize her point.

As she sat down, Katara said, “Everyone seems to have a _strong_ opinion about what I do with my own time. You guys are as bad as Pakku,” She crossed her arms with a pout, aware she was acting a bit childish. She didn’t care, she _was_ a child.

“Katara, you know when and where to meet tomorrow,” Jet said. He acted like he was unaware of the sudden disapproving sound Sokka made upon hearing this. “It’s always your choice of course, whether you want to train or not.”

“I’ll be there,” Katara said, her tone leaving no more room for discussion. She pretended not to notice the grumpy expression on Sokka’s face, or how he crossed his arms. He would get over it soon.

___

Katara went to bed early, saying she needed rest for training tomorrow. Jet couldn’t wait. Hakoda also went to bed, joking that he was getting too old to stay up after the kind of day they had, and Chit Sang followed suit.

The rest of the group was still celebrating the new arrivals and happily catching up. Jet heard from the other side of the fire Toph say, “Haru, I’m rooting for you buddy.”

“What do you mean?” Haru said, his eyebrows furrowing.

Toph grinned conspiratorially. At Haru’s slightly raised voice, some of the conversations died and most everyone was listening to Toph now. “Word of advice my friend. Shave the ‘stache, you’ll thank me later,” she punched his arm.

“My mustache?” Haru said, his hand touching the facial hair. “Toph I don’t understand what you’re saying, why would I shave it?”

“Ah, you know,” Toph said, clearly enjoying goading him on. “I just heard something about it.”

Haru’s voice was confused as he said, “What did you hear?”

Toph was picking at her toes as though she wasn’t enjoying making him squirm. “Just that you were hotter without the mustache.” She turned her attention back to his direction with a wide grin.

Haru blushed bright red. “Um …” he said. “Who did you hear that from Toph?”

“Katara of course,” Toph said. “I can’t really give you an opinion on it.” She waved a hand in front of her obviously blind eyes. Haru looked like he wanted to sink into the ground from embarrassment.

“Bro,” Jet said. “Don’t even think about it. If you come out tomorrow with a shaved face I’ll call you out on being whipped.”

“Mustache or not though, if I had to bet, I’d put my money on Zuko,” Toph said.

“Zuko?” Suki said with interest.

“Yeah,” Toph said. “Katara’s heart beat goes crazy whenever he’s around. Especially when he’s training.”

Zuko suddenly choked on his tea. Aang grumbled something about himself being there whenever Zuko was training too. Suki was laughing, and Toph looked very amused. Jet on the other hand was extremely irritated at the turn of the conversation. He could feel his hatred for Zuko growing again, and the plan that had been forming in his mind continued to solidify.

Sokka’s face was twisted in a mixture of emotions. “Is there _anyone_ in this group that doesn’t want to date my sister?!” Jet noticed Haru blushing and looking at the ground, Aang blushed, and Zuko was staring at the ground like he didn’t hear anything.

Suki raised her hand and said, “I don’t want to date Katara,” with a laugh.

“I’m with Suki on this one,” Toph said.

The group was silent for several more beats, and then Toph was cracking up. “I freaking knew it!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you continue to enjoy, and let me know what you think in the comments! A storm is comin' in future chapters! XD


	6. The Southern Raiders

Much of the group was awakened by booming noises in the temple. Katara ran out to the open-air courtyard and stood with some of Team Avatar, trying to figure out what was going on. There was a Fire Nation airship attacking them. Suddenly a portion of the ceiling roof began to crumble and cave in. The seconds passed too quickly as Katara realized she was standing directly beneath the crumbling ceiling. She looked up, alarmed, only to be pushed from a source beside her. “Watch out!” she heard Zuko say as he pushed her, his arms enclosing her as he forced her out of the way of the crushing rocks.

Then his body was flush against her back, his arm wrapped around her, dust flying in the air from the rocks that had settled. Something inside of her seemed to awaken at the closeness of his body. It frightened her. She quickly extricated herself out from under him, feeling warm all over. She helped pull him up, and they stared at each other for a moment. She wondered if his mind felt as muddled as hers. “Thank you Zuko,” Katara said.

“Don’t mention it,” Zuko said cooly, starting to turn away from her.

“Come on!” Toph said, pointing to an exit that she and Haru had created with their earthbending. “We can get out through here!”

Katara grabbed Zuko’s hand and started to pull him after her, but Zuko quickly pulled away from her grasp. “Wait,” he said.

Katara stared at him questioningly as Zuko turned to face the airships. “What are you doing?” She said.

“Go with the others.” Zuko said. “I’ll hold them off. I think this is a family visit.” Zuko started to run off toward the airship.

“Zuko! No!” Katara said as Aang, Sokka, and Jet ran up to her.

She started to go after Zuko, but her brother grabbed her arm. “We’ve got to get out of here!” Sokka said. Katara frowned as Zuko ran off into the distance. He always threw himself into things without thinking … though they seemed to have that in common a lot of the time. “Come on!” Sokka said, tugging on Katara’s arm.

“Zuko’s probably the one who sent this ship anyways,” Jet said.

Katara glared at him, “They’re attacking him too!”

“We’ll see,” Jet said.

Aang, Katara, Sokka and Jet began pulling the reins, trying to make Appa move into their escape tunnel. Appa would not budge, so the group made the difficult decision of splitting up. Hakoda hugged his children before splitting off into the tunnel with the others. Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Jet got on Appa and took off, a shield of rock covering Appa as he broke through Azula’s fire, the rock disintegrating from the blast. Zuko was facing off with Azula. As Appa flew, he dodged fire blasts, Katara deflecting several large whips of fire with her waterbending. The group rose above the airship to avoid more fire. Suddenly Katara saw Zuko falling toward them, and she reached out to grab his hand and pull him into the saddle.

___

Azula continued falling, and Zuko said, “She’s … not gonna make it.” Then Azula used her firebending to propel herself toward the wall, stopping her fall with her hair pin and saving herself. “Of course she did,” Zuko said.”

“I don’t know if I should be turned on or terrified,” Jet said.

A moment of silence passed between the group, and then Zuko suddenly exclaimed, “That’s my _sister_!” Several people made disgusted noises in response to Jet.

“Yeah,” Jet said, “so? She just tried to kill you.”

“… Exactly!” Zuko said. “What is attractive about that?”

“She wants to kill you. I want to kill you. We have a lot in common,” Jet said.

Sokka made a choked noise, “ _Azula_? You _hate_ the Fire Nation, Jet, and she’s the princess.”

“Gosh you guys, I didn’t say I want to propose to her!” Jet said.

Toph punched him, “Quit being such a hog monkey and maybe everyone will like you more, Sugar Glider.”

Sokka spluttered, “ _Sugar Glider_?” He was doubled over laughing at Jet’s irritated face.

Aang yelled loudly over Sokka’s laughter, “Guys, quit fighting on Appa! It makes it harder for him to fly!” The rest of the ride was filled with an awkward silence, a grumpy Zuko and Jet both with arms crossed staring off into the horizon.

As Zuko looked at the sky, he was replaying back the conversation. If Katara and Jet were dating, wouldn’t she have been upset at Jet calling Azula attractive? Or were they playing it cool, trying to pretend they weren’t together? He really needed to ask her about it soon, it was driving him crazy.

___

That night they found a site to set up camp. They were all outside together around their campfire, having just finished eating dinner. They had decided to regroup and figure out where to go next.

It hadn’t escaped Zuko’s notice that Katara sat next to Jet at the campfire, or that they had seemed to grow closer since Zuko had been away so many days. He had wanted to ask her about dating Jet, but he hadn’t found the right moment. At this point, the two of them were flirty with each other, and Zuko started to wonder how no one else knew they were dating.

“Wow, camping ... it really seems like old times again, doesn't it?” Aang said.

“If you really want it to feel like old times, I could, uh ... chase you around a while and try to capture you,” Zuko said. He smiled as the rest of the group laughed, except for Jet.

“Ha ha,” Jet said sarcastically. Katara shot him a look. He had been so hostile toward Zuko ever since joining the group.

“To Zuko!” Sokka said, holding up his cup. “Who knew after all those times he tried to snuff us out, today he'd be our hero?” The rest of Team Avatar held up their cups, yelling “hear, hear!” Aang nudged Zuko with his elbow, and Toph lightly punched him.

Zuko smiled and said, “I’m touched.” He stopped smiling and quietly said, “I don't deserve this.”

“Yea, no kidding,” Jet said. Katara smacked Jet on the arm, giving him another look. Zuko’s heart lurched as he watched Jet smile and wink at her. She rolled her eyes at him. Katara started to whisper something in Jet’s ear, and Jet chuckled in response. Zuko looked down at his tea cup in alarm, suddenly dropping it. He had apparently firebended the cup hotter and hotter, to the point the tea was almost boiling, his hand burning from holding it. As Zuko stared down at the spilled cup, he could hear his uncle say, ‘ _I know you’re not supposed to cry over spilled tea, but it’s just so sad.’_ He missed that man. He had thought he found a friend in Katara, and it really hurt to see her getting friendly with Jet, most likely even more so when they were alone.

“Zuko,” Katara said, her voice concerned. She stared down at his spilled tea. “What’s wrong?” He looked up to see her blue eyes staring at him, worry on her features. Everyone was staring at him now, and he felt embarrassed at the attention.

___

“I’m fine,” Zuko said. “My hand slipped.” He bent down to pick up the cup.

Katara could tell that he wasn’t fine. Zuko had been stiff with her lately. It hurt, because she had thought they could become friends after what they’d been through together. He had been gone on trips a lot, and she didn’t know how to get back the easy camaraderie they had developed when he first arrived at the air temple.

“Did your hand slip when you attacked Katara’s tribe? Or Suki’s village? Or the North Pole? Or when you got me imprisoned at Lake Laogai?” Jet said angrily. “Is that what he told you guys? How can you be thanking him after all of that? I’m tired of living with this firebending scum, and you guys being so friendly with him.”

“Jet!” Katara said, turning angrily toward him.

“No he’s right,” Zuko said, his voice low and raspy. “I don’t deserve anyone’s gratitude after what I’ve done.”

“Have you all lost your minds?” Jet said. “He’s the Fire Lord’s son, spreading war and violence is in his blood! I bet he’s just waiting for the chance to off one of us.” Katara stood up at the same time Zuko did. She could see the hurt on Zuko’s face.

“Jet, you’re way out of line,” Toph said.

“I trust Zuko with my life after what he did at the Boiling Rock,” Sokka said passionately. “He’s a wanted man, and he walked into that prison to help get my dad and Suki out. He’s a hero in my books. If you’ve got a problem living with him, you can leave Jet.”

“Zuko saved us in Ba Sing Se, and again with Azula today. He’s also been a great firebending teacher,” Aang said.

“Jet, I’ve told you,” Katara said angrily. “Zuko has gone off alone for _days_ with Aang and Sokka, and has proved himself multiple times! You just can’t see past your prejudice!”

“Like _you_ care,” Zuko said.

“Of course I care,” Katara said defensively. It shocked her to hear Zuko turn this on her, when she was on _his_ side.

“Sometimes actions speak louder than words,” Zuko snapped.

___

Zuko couldn’t take it anymore. He hated seeing Katara defend him to her boyfriend. Jet had to have talked to her about this before, and she must agree with him on some level to still be dating him. It was a bit two faced for her to act one way with him and the group, and another behind closed doors with Jet. Zuko started to walk away, saying, “I need some air.” He knew they were outside already, but he really needed to get away from the group for a bit to calm down.

___

“What’s with him?” Sokka said after Zuko walked away.

“I wish I knew,” Katara said. She started to follow after him.

Jet suddenly stood up. “Katara,” he said.

She turned to glare at him. “Do _not_ follow me,” she said. She ignored the hurt look on Jet’s face as she walked away.

As Katara left, Sokka said, “What’s with her?”

___

Katara slowly approached Zuko on a grassy cliff overlooking the ocean. “Zuko,” she said softly as she walked up next to him.

He turned to look at her, his face blank. “What do you want?” he said.

Katara stared at him, confused. “I … don’t understand why you seem so mad at me. I’ve been nothing but nice to you.”

Zuko frowned at her. “How could you date Jet after what I told you about him in Ba Sing Se?”

Katara had not expected him to say that at all. Her eyes widened in shock. “Date … _Jet_? I dated him in the past when we first met him at his camp near Gaipan village. But I told you, he used and manipulated me. I wouldn’t date him again after that.”

___

Zuko stared at her in surprise. They _weren’t_ dating? He didn’t even know what to say. That meant that Jet … must have lied to him. Of _course_ he had. What a scumbag. “I’m sorry Katara,” Zuko said. “I thought you were still dating him.” Now he felt guilty for being so rude to her. He wasn’t even sure why he’d cared so much. It wasn’t really his business who she dated anyways. But for someone he’d started to consider a friend to be with someone like Jet had annoyed him to no end. “He’s not a good guy,” Zuko said. He considered telling her about Jet’s lie, but wasn’t sure he wanted to involve her. She’d been hurt enough. He would talk to Jet about it later.

Katara frowned. “I know,” she said, “but I always try to see the best in people. I’ve slowly realized that can be a weakness. Sometimes I can be too trusting.”

Zuko stared into her blue eyes. His voice got caught somewhere in his throat. “It can be a weakness, or it can be a strength,” he said, his voice raspy. “If you hadn’t tried to see the best in me in the crystal catacombs, who knows where we would be now?”

Katara shyly said, “I know we talked a lot but … you … helped us because of me?”

Zuko blushed at the way she was smiling at him. “Well I mean that was a big part of it,” Zuko said. “Being around my uncle for so many years slowly started to change me too I guess. I started to realize that what I was taught about the Fire Nation was wrong. The world hates us.”

___

“I used to hate you … hate the Fire Nation,” Katara said. “But our travels have made me realize that not all of the Fire Nation is bad. Staying here for several months, I’ve met a lot of good people. But the Fire Nation does need to change. They’ve killed and stolen and destroyed so much. Destroyed my tribe. Killed my mother,” Katara grasped her necklace at this. “I can never forgive them for that. The man who took her away from me is a _monster_.” Katara’s voice broke. She turned away from Zuko, a sudden wave of emotions overtaking her. How could she stand to be around him? She knew Zuko hadn’t killed her mother, or been any part of it, he was too young at the time obviously, but he was the Fire Lord’s son. He had been raised to be just like them. Murderers. Thieves. They’d stolen her childhood from her.

‘ _No’_ , she said to herself. ‘ _Not Zuko’_. He was different right? Wasn’t he? He’d saved her and Aang. But she saw flashes of the past in her mind. _Zuko on his huge Fire Nation ship, running straight into her village, demanding they hand over the Avatar._ Another, _Zuko dangling her mother’s necklace in front of her, taunting her._ Then, _Zuko fighting her at the North over Aang, then stealing him out from under her._ And just now, _her defending Zuko to Jet, and Zuko getting angry at her for no reason._ He had done so much good, and so much bad. She found that she couldn’t quite look at him.

___

“Katara?” Zuko said. He was surprised at her sudden shift, but he understood the pain of losing a mother. “I’m so sorry about your mother. I wish I could do something to help.” He reached out to touch her arm, but she jerked away from him.

“Like you said Zuko, actions speak louder than words. Maybe when you’re _Fire Lord_ you can bring her back,” Katara said as she walked away. He saw tears running down her face in the moonlight. He had never seen her so upset with him since before he helped her in Ba Sing Se. It was his fault. He shouldn’t have assumed that the lie Jet had told him was true. He shouldn’t have been so cold to her lately. He felt like they had taken several steps back. As he thought about it, Zuko realized he needed to understand what had happened to her mother to make things right with Katara. It seemed like she’d suddenly started to project her anger about her mother’s death at him. He wondered if she’d ever truly grieved her mother’s death before. Katara seemed so strong, but every time, even just mentioning her mother broke her down. He turned toward Sokka’s tent.

___

The next day, Katara walked out of her tent to find Zuko waiting outside of it, sitting on a rock. She noticed dark circles under his eyes and the unruliness of his hair. “You look tired,” Katara said.

“I waited out here all night,” Zuko said.

Katara started brushing her hair. “Why?” She was surprised that he would have sat on a rock all night just waiting to talk to her. This must be serious.

“I know who killed your mother,” Zuko said. Katara abruptly stopped, shocked at his words. “And I’m gonna help you find him.”

___

It was mid-afternoon when Katara and Zuko approached Appa, Zuko carrying a sack over his shoulder. Aang was feeding Appa hay, Sokka was lounging nearby against a rock playing with a lei he was making, and Jet was sitting a few feet from him, lounging with his wheat in his mouth. “I need to borrow Appa,” Katara said.

“Why?” Aang said jokingly. “Is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko?”

“Yes, it is,” Katara said.

“Oh?” Aang said, surprise evident in his voice. “What’s going on?”

“We're going to find the man who took my mother from me,” Katara said.

Sokka stood up surprised. Zuko said, “Sokka told me the story of what happened. I know who did it and I know how to find him.”

“Um,” Aang said, “and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?”

Katara shook her head in dismay. She shouldn’t have been surprised by Aang’s reaction. He was always preaching about peace and non-violence, but sometimes people did things that were so awful that they needed to face justice. “Ugh, I knew you wouldn't understand,” Katara said beginning to walk away.

“Wait! Stop! I do understand.” Aang said. “You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?”

“She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure and justice,” Zuko said.

“I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge,” Aang said.

“Fine, maybe it is!” Katara exclaimed. “Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what he deserves!” she was throwing her hands around her out of anger.

“Katara, you sound like Jet,” Aang said.

“Hey!” Jet yelled.

“Uh…Jet before he changed I mean,” Aang said sheepishly.

“It's not the same!” Katara said. “Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster.”

“Wow,” Jet said dejectedly. Everyone ignored him except for Zuko, who shot him an annoyed look.

“Katara, she was my mother, too, but I think Aang might be right,” Sokka said.

“Then you didn't love her the way I did!” Katara said angrily. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew this was too far, but she didn’t care. They were trying to stop her from doing something she really needed to do, and it just hurt her too much.

Sokka sounded so hurt when he said, “Katara!”

“The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat viper,” Aang said. “While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself.”

“That's cute, but this isn't air temple preschool,” Zuko said. “It's the real world.”

“Now that I know he's out there ... now that I know we can find him, I feel like I have no choice,” Katara said.

“Katara,” Aang said, “you do have a choice, forgiveness.”

“That's the same as doing nothing!” Zuko said.

“No, it's not. It's easy to do nothing, but it's hard to forgive,” Aang said.

“It's not just hard, it's impossible,” Katara said. She turned to walk away from them, and Zuko followed her.

___

Later that night, Katara and Zuko were in black cloaks, and Katara was tying her hair into a ponytail. She had to be ready for anything they might face. Suddenly Aang and Sokka emerged to confront them from behind a rock.

“So, you were just gonna take Appa anyway?” Aang said.

“Yes,” Katara said simply.

“It's okay, because I forgive you,” Aang said with a pause. “That give you any ideas?”

“Don’t try to stop us,” Katara said.

“I wasn't planning to. This is a journey you need to take. You need to face this man.” Aang said, as Katara situated herself on Appa's head _._ “But when you do, please don't choose revenge. Let your anger out, and then let it go. Forgive him.”

“Okay,” Zuko said sarcastically, “we'll be sure to do that, guru goody-goody.” He climbed aboard Appa, settling on the saddle.

“Thanks for understanding, Aang. Yip-yip,” Katara said. Appa flew, taking them away from her brother and Aang. If nothing else, she would enjoy this time away from their judgmental opinions. Everyone always tried to control her and tell her what to do, especially the men in her life. It was strange that the only person who currently understood her used to be her enemy.

___

As Katara and Zuko flew away, Sokka said to Aang, “You know, you’re pretty wise for a kid.”

“Thanks Sokka,” Aang said with a small smile.

“Usually it’s annoying, but right now, I’m impressed,” Sokka said.

“I appreciate that,” Aang said, his smile disappearing.

“So, can I borrow Momo for a week?” Sokka said.

Aang relied, his voice surprised, “Why do you need to borrow Momo?”

Sokka shrugged.

___

After Katara and Zuko confronted Yon Rha, they sat on Appa, and the ride back to the group’s camp was silent for a long time. Zuko knew that Katara probably needed the silence to collect her thoughts, and he wasn’t about to interrupt it first.

“You didn’t have to come do this with me,” Katara said, sitting atop Appa’s head, looking out across the sky.

“Of course I did,” Zuko said.

“But why?” Katara said, turning to look at him. “I was so rude to you the other night. I’m sorry, you didn’t deserve that.”

Zuko shrugged. “I do deserve it, after everything I did in the past. And you were right Katara, my people have really made a mess of the world. If I can help bring you closure in some way for what the Fire Nation has done, of course I’m going to try.” They were silent for a few moments, Katara looking thoughtful, then Zuko said nervously, “Hey Katara.”

“Yeah?” she said curiously, turning her whole body to look at him, her arms leaning on the lip of Appa’s saddle, her chin resting on a fist.

Zuko blushed a bit, cursing himself in his head for being so bad at talking to people like this. “I talked to your brother about this, and he thought I should talk to you about it too,” he paused and took a deep breath. “I really do regret my past. The only thing I’m proud of myself for doing in the last few years, is helping save you and Aang back in Ba Sing Se. If I could go back, I would change so many things,” he said, his voice stern and full of conviction. They stared into each other’s eyes, and it was like they were back in the crystal catacombs and there was no distance between them, as though her palm settled against his scarred cheek like it did that day. He saw her face soften a bit as he continued. “But I think I needed to go through it all. I needed to feel that regret to end up here. I needed to end up in that Fire Nation prison feeling alone, and hated by the people who were supposed to care about me the most. I needed to go through everything I’ve been through with my Uncle to choose what I knew was right in my heart all along. Being in prison after sacrificing myself for your cause is the most at peace I had ever felt. My whole life I was taught that the Fire Nation was right, but I knew deep down that this war was wrong, especially when I traveled around the world and saw how it affected people. I’ve never been more at peace with myself than I am now, with the Avatar, with _you_.”

Katara’s eyes went wide with shock, and her face was full of something at his speech … was it admiration? “Thank you for telling me Zuko,” Katara said, her eyes welling up, and she turned away from him. “You probably think I’m some emotional crybaby for how much I’ve gotten upset lately,” Katara said, sounding embarrassed. “I guess I’m still feeling a bit high-strung after what happened, but what you just said really means a lot to me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being high-strung, or passionate, or with feeling things strongly. In fact, I like that about you,” Zuko said with a shy smile.

Katara turned to him suddenly, wiping tears from her cheeks, and a clear look of shock on her face. She sat frozen, and they evaluated each other for a moment more. “Almost every time we’ve talked, it gets deep and I end up crying or yelling at you,” Katara said.

“You say what’s on your mind. It’s refreshing after growing up in the palace court atmosphere my whole life, _believe_ me,” Zuko said. “Everyone has a poker face and lies to get on your good side. Imagine growing up with a sister like Azula,” Katara visibly shivered in disgust at this, “who’s always lying to your face. She hasn’t changed much. You and the rest of Team Avatar aren’t like that. You guys are all real people, and I can tell you genuinely care. That’s rare to find,” he said moodily.

Katara looked at Zuko from the corners of her eyes, a sly look on her face. “If you like passionate people, why would you date that gloomy knife girl?” At the look on his face she added, “Sorry, Sokka talked to me _all_ about your trip to Boiling Rock,” Katara smiled.

Zuko choked out in shock, “I …” his mind was blank.

“Zuko, I’m just teasing you,” Katara said with a smile. “You asked about my past with Jet, I’ve got to ask about yours.”

Zuko couldn’t wipe away his frown. “I don’t know,” he said in response to her question. “Mai saved us at the Boiling Rock. But you’re right. We mostly were interested in each other because that’s what was expected of us. Our parents kind of … planned it I guess.”

It was Katara’s turn to be surprised. “So, you’re betrothed?” she said.

“No!” Zuko said quickly, an embarrassed flush appearing on his face. “The Fire Nation doesn’t really do arranged marriages anymore. But it is true that noble families introduce their children from a young age with that intent.”

Katara frowned. “It must be hard practically having your life planned out for you like that. My Gran-gran fled the Northern water tribe because of an arranged marriage. Then she married for love in the South.”

Zuko smiled at that and said, “That doesn’t surprise me at all. Your family raised you to be strong. I can see where you get it from, your father Hakoda is a great man.”

Katara blushed and said, “Zuko, stop it. You already made up for the past today, you don’t have to flatter me anymore.”

“Maybe I want to,” Zuko said with a shy smile.

Katara had an embarrassed look on her face, and she turned away from him suddenly. Her whole face and neck had turned a shade of red. The rest of their trip was spent in companionable silence. Something powerful had shifted between them. Zuko was almost sad when they got back to the group’s camp, and Katara took off suddenly.

___

Katara was on the boardwalk overlooking the water. She sat on the edge of the dock, her eyes closed, paddling the water with her feet. She opened her eyes sadly as Aang and Zuko approached her.

“Katara? Are you okay?” Aang said as he ran up to her.

“I’m doing fine,” Katara replied.

“Zuko told me what you did,” Aang said. “Or what you didn't do, I guess. I'm proud of you.”

“I wanted to do it,” Katara said. “I wanted to take out all my anger at him, but I couldn't. I don't know if it’s because I'm too weak to do it or because I'm strong enough not to.”

“You did the right thing,” Aang said. “Forgiveness is the first step you have to take to begin healing.”

Katara rose from the dock saying, “But I didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him.” She smiled at Zuko and walked up to him. “But Zuko, will you forgive me?” They stood there staring at each other for several moments.

Zuko said, “Only if you forgive me too.” She rolled her eyes and he grinned.

Then suddenly she was reaching her arms out to him in invitation for a hug, and Zuko moved toward her, their arms encircling in an embrace. It only lasted a few short seconds, but Zuko felt any tension they had left with each other release. She pulled back and held her hands on him for a moment, their eyes saying everything they couldn’t. Zuko felt himself smile back at her. He watched as she turned and walked away.

“You were right about what Katara needed. Violence wasn't the answer,” Zuko said.

“It never is,” Aang replied.

“Then I have a question for you,” Zuko said, turning to look at him _._ “What are you gonna do when you face my father?” Aang’s expression turned worried. He had no response for that.


	7. Training with Jet

Most of the group was sitting at their campfire, the stars lit up above them. Katara said, “I’m gonna go practice my bending.” At Aang’s hopeful expression, she clarified, “Alone.” She stood and walked away toward the ocean. Aang’s face had fallen.

“What’s got you happy, Sparky?” Toph said, turning to Zuko.

“You seem so self-satisfied,” Jet said, staring at him with narrowed eyes. “You enjoy your little trip with Katara?”

“Yeah, we had so much fun together confronting her mother’s killer,” Zuko said dryly.

Jet’s expression turned sour and he said, “I bet you’re fun at parties.”

“I hate parties,” Zuko said. Jet sighed, his shoulders slumping. Toph chuckled in amusement at the interaction.

“We should throw a welcome party for Zuko joining the group!” Sokka said. Suki looked amused at Sokka’s excitement.

“What part of ‘I hate parties’ don’t you understand?” Zuko said with irritation. “Besides, I’ve already been with you guys for _weeks_ now.”

“What about me?” Jet said. “I didn’t get a welcome party.” The group went silent and Jet frowned.

Suddenly Katara walked up to the group saying, “I forgot my …” she paused, noticing the awkward tension of the group. “Did I interrupt something?” She grabbed her waterskin that was leaning against the rock she had been sitting on. Everyone was still silent.

“Since this conversation is obviously not going anywhere, I’ll go with you Katara,” Jet said, sidling up beside her. “We never got to train earlier today,” Jet smiled charmingly at her.

“I said I wanted to _waterbend_. And I want to be _alone_ ,” Katara said, turning from him, annoyed. She stormed off, Jet watching with a hurt expression.

“Ouch,” Toph said.

After walking a few paces from the group, Katara sighed, turning back to Jet. “We can train tomorrow,” she said.

Zuko didn’t understand why he was so irritated at Jet’s self-satisfied smirk.

___

Katara woke up early the next day to prepare for training with Jet. She wasn’t surprised to see Zuko awake as well. “You’re up early,” he said as she sat, tying up her hair.

She rolled her eyes and with a sigh said, “Yeah, I promised Jet I would practice with him around sunrise. I don’t know what I was thinking,” she said with a yawn.

Zuko smiled almost too sweetly as he said, “You wouldn’t mind if I watched would you? I’m curious as to what Jet’s been teaching you.”

Katara wasn’t sure why the idea of Zuko watching her train with Jet made her nervous. “Oh,” she said with surprise, “sure, I guess.”

“Unless you don’t want me to watch?” Zuko said. “I understand if you wanted a … private lesson,” he said.

Katara’s face flushed from embarrassment. “I don’t want to be anywhere private with Jet!” she said.

“Wow Katara,” Jet said suddenly, walking up to them from his tent. Katara jumped, his presence catching her off guard. “I didn’t realize being alone with me was so horrible,” he said, his eyes narrowing and shifting to Zuko. “On the other hand, you just spent several _days_ alone with Zuko.”

Katara wanted to die. She wasn’t usually made speechless by anything, but she found her mind blank. Thankfully, Zuko answered for her.

“Anywhere without you, Jet, is paradise,” Zuko said, then added slyly, “but it was especially nice being with Katara.” Katara looked at Zuko with shock to see him nod to Jet with a smirk. She looked at Jet and felt a bit amused at the fury on his face, realizing Zuko was trying to get a rise out of him. “I promise you Jet, I kept her warm on our trip.”

Katara’s face heated up again, and she lightly hit Zuko’s arm with a laugh. “Stop it! Jet, come on, we should get started with some stretches.” Of course, it couldn’t be so simple. 

“Sure,” Jet said, “I’ll help stretch you out Katara.”

Katara was about to retort at his innuendo, but Zuko surprised her by irritably saying, “Typical Earth Kingdom ruffian.”

“Oh, glorious prince of nothing,” Jet sarcastically said, “why don’t you teach me your classy ways?” Both boys seemed to be getting more and more angry at one another.

“Hey!” Katara said. As amused as she was by their bickering, she didn’t want it to turn into uncontrolled violence. She scrambled trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation. “Save the rough talk for training. Maybe you two can have a little match yourselves.”

“Hell yeah,” Jet said. “I’d love to beat the other side of your ugly face in.”

Zuko was looking at Jet murderously again, so Katara placed a hand on his shoulder. As Zuko’s gaze shifted to her, it was as if he came out of a dream, blinking in surprise at the physical contact. He stared at her hand like it was an alien appendage. “I’d like to see you try,” Zuko said to Jet simply, returning her smile.

___

Jet was a surprisingly patient teacher. After their warm up, he started their training by showing her knife throwing. “No,” he said, putting his hands on her stiff shoulders. “You want to relax your stance a bit,” he said, softly patting her arms. She loosened up a bit. “Good,” Jet said. Zuko let out a deep huff of air. “Got something to say Hot Pants?” Jet said.

“No,” Zuko said, “carry on.” He waved his hand in dismissal.

“You want your spine a bit straighter,” Jet said, poking the middle of her back. She straightened her posture. “You’re right-handed, right?” Katara nodded, and Jet continued. “Then when you throw, you want your right foot forward, and your left slightly behind it.” She moved her feet as he said. “Opposite if you throw with your left hand,” he moved his feet in position, the knife in his left hand.

Jet proceeded to show her a half spin throw and one spin throw. On her third try, Katara hit the center of the tree. “Nice hit Katara!” Jet praised her, and Katara smiled. As she slowly got better at hitting her target, Jet showed her a couple of increasingly more difficult throws. After half an hour of this, Jet said, “I think that’s enough of throwing for now. You can practice anytime, as long a you have a clear target and a knife of course.”

“Or just aim for Jet,” Zuko said sarcastically. “Give him some dodging practice.”

“Ha, ha,” Jet said sarcastically. “Lovely commentary from the peanut gallery.” Katara couldn’t stop a giggle that came out of her. Their bickering was amusing to her, but it was too bad that they couldn’t get along. Katara was noticing that both teens were very similar. She imagined they could be good friends if they tried to set aside their differences. “Come on Kat,” Jet said, tapping her arm. “We’re gonna move on to basic self-defense techniques.”

Katara returned her focus to their training. “Right,” she said. Suddenly Jet moved and grabbed her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist. “What …?” she quickly went into defensive mode, trying to get away. She noticed Zuko stand up in alarm.

“This is called …” Jet started saying, but Katara’s mind went blank and she wanted his hands off of her. She suddenly side stepped and shifted a leg behind one of his, causing his grip on her to be strained. She grabbed his other leg and pulled it up, Jet gasping as he lost his balance. They both fell and she landed heavily on him, her elbow hitting him hard in the gut. His grip loosened completely and she stood, moving away from him. Jet was grasping his stomach, wincing with his breaths.

Zuko was full on laughing. “Who’s teaching who now?” Zuko said mocking Jet. Sokka was guffawing, Toph was laughing, Aang was cheering, and Suki gave her a big smile and a thumbs up.

Katara looked up in surprise. “When did you guys get here?” she said, blushing at their praise.

“I was trying to show you the bear hug attack,” Jet said from the ground. “Ugh,” he mumbled, sitting up.

“Sorry,” Katara said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. “You caught me off guard when you started manhandling me.” Her eyebrows knit together in irritation.

“You have some strong natural defense instincts,” Jet said in praise as he stood up. “Another good way out of a bear hug attack is a shoulder throw. Will you let me walk you through it?”

“Sure,” Katara rolled her eyes and moved in front of him.

He put his arms around her front and Toph snickered, saying, “I thought this was a _training_ session, not a dance class.” Katara blushed. She felt really awkward with everyone, especially Zuko watching.

“First,” Jet murmured in her ear, “spread your legs in a wide stance.” Katara widened her stance, and Jet nodded. “Now move your elbows up quickly to release some of the pressure of the bear hug. Good. Now grab my left hand with your right hand. Now pull me hard and throw me over …! Ooof!” Katara had pulled Jet over her back with her shoulder, and he had landed roughly on the ground. “Maybe not that hard,” he grumbled.

The wheat in Jet’s mouth was bent at a funny angle, his arms and legs splayed out from his rough tumble. His hair was wild, some leaves and dirt sticking to it from hitting his head on the ground twice now. Katara couldn’t help the laugh that came out of her.

“I don’t know about you guys, but this is making me feel better,” Sokka said. Katara noticed Zuko grinning with amusement. Sokka and Katara definitely weren’t the only ones to have enjoyment at Jet’s expense.

“I’m ready to see this match with Zuko,” Toph said.

Katara walked up to the tree Zuko was sitting against, playfully nudging his leg with hers as she sat next to him.

“I guess training is over Sugar Queen?” Jet pouted at her as he sat up from the ground. The way he said ‘Sugar Queen’ was much different than the way Toph said it.

“You were right about training with you making me feel better,” Katara smiled. “Maybe next time I can use waterbending too.”

“You murderous woman,” Jet said, like it was an amazing compliment.

___

“Is this gonna be a non-bending match?” Katara said.

Zuko stood, and Katara noticed his dual dao swords strapped to his back. “Definitely no bending. Just like in Ba Sing Se,” Zuko said, his eyes focused on Jet.

Jet stood in a defensive stance, pulling his twin hooks from his belt. “It’s on, Hot Pants,” Jet said. Zuko ran at him head on, their swords connecting with a clang. For a while, all Zuko knew was steel, shaggy black hair, and mocking eyes. They danced with their swords, trading blow after blow. Each stumbled a few times, but quickly recovered. They darted around each other, block, parry, block parry. Then Jet tried twisting one of Zuko’s swords with his own, but Zuko used the momentum to pull on Jet’s hooks. One hook clattered to the ground, and Zuko went back into the offensive. At the pressure Zuko put on him, Jet had to duck, and Zuko felt deja vu as his sword nearly took Jet’s head off, cutting the wheat sticking out of his mouth instead.

Jet darted to grab his other sword, and Zuko stepped on it, surprising Jet by hitting his other hook sword away as well. Zuko held his sword up to Jet’s neck, and Jet swallowed nervously, holding his hands up in a truce. It felt like the match lasted mere seconds, but it had been at least ten minutes. “You win,” Jet grumbled. Team Avatar was cheering for Zuko. Zuko noticed Katara smiling, her arms crossed over her chest as she sat sprawled against the tree he had been sitting at. It had warmed his heart that she chose to sit with him.

“Maybe Katara should train with _me_ instead,” Zuko said teasingly.

“Sure!” Katara blurted out. Everyone turned to look at her in surprise. “I mean … I would train with anyone who wants to. Like Suki too!” she gestured toward the Kyoshi warrior.

“Riiiiight,” Toph said. “Wanna train with me?” she grinned.

“Anyone except Toph,” Katara said jokingly. Aang looked up excitedly at her and Katara said, “Aang we already train together allllll the time.”

Aang pouted, “But I like training with you.”

Zuko rolled his eyes, saying, “You just like her praising you all the time for the littlest things.”

“Somebody sounds _jealous_ ,” Toph teased in a sing-song voice.

“I’m not jealous!” Zuko said, embarrassed.

“Calm down, Sparky,” Toph said, “I’m just teasing you. I know you’re the only one who’s not quite in love with Sugar Queen _yet_.”

Sokka let out a strangled yell. Katara stood up and said, “I’m tired of my love life being the butt of every joke!” Then she turned away from the group and started walking toward the ocean. Everyone stared after her dramatic exit for a moment.

Zuko went after her. “I just barely made things better with her!” he yelled back at the group. He wasn’t sure why he was following her, or if he even should, but it felt like the right thing to do. He slowly approached Katara. She sat on the beach, holding the tops of her knees as she stared into the horizon, the waves lapping against her ankles. “Mind if I sit?” Zuko said. Katara shook her head in response. They sat like that for a long time. Slowly, Katara shifted, her head moving onto his shoulder.

___

Slowly, Katara shifted, her head moving onto Zuko’s shoulder. She froze in shock as she realized what she had done, then she sat up murmuring, “Sorry.” Zuko turned toward her, staring at her. She turned her head and their eyes met for one, two, three seconds.

“It’s ok,” he said quietly.

She blushed and looked away. “I’m always a pretty affectionate person, but sometimes I forget myself, forget who I’m with.”

“Ah, I see,” Zuko said, his voice turning bitter.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that,” Katara said. She grabbed her face and covered it in embarrassment. “I mean I’m used to being around children, my brother, my girl friends, Aang. People I’m always affectionate with, people who aren’t _you_ or _Jet_ or _Haru_.” She said gloomily. “People who don’t have knife throwing, scary girl-friends.”

“You know, Mai isn’t my girlfriend. We never dated. She actually probably hates me for locking her in that prison cell and being a ‘traitor’,” Zuko said grumpily.

“You really did lock her in a prison cell?” Katara said, her eyes widening. She already knew it from Sokka, but it was different to hear the story from him. 

“Yeah,” Zuko sighed. “I did it because I thought she was going to try to stop us, but then she ended up helping us. I still don’t understand why.”

“She must still care about you. You were friends right?” Katara said. Zuko nodded. As they sat together for a while, Katara was lost in her thoughts. “Zuko, why are you here?” she said suddenly.

Zuko stared at her in confusion for a few seconds. “To train Aang of course,” he said dumbly.

Katara frowned, “I mean right here. With me.” She pointed to the sand they sat on.

Zuko shrugged. “It felt like the right thing to do?” he said. It was clearly the wrong thing to say.

Katara suddenly stood up, visibly upset again. “Thanks _so_ much,” she said, quickly moving away from him. “I guess you’ve done your good deed for the day.”

“I’m just trying to be a friend to you!” Zuko said, also the wrong thing to say apparently.

Katara walked away toward a large rock cliff yelling back at him, “I’m soooo glad we’re friends Zuko! Now please take your friendship back to camp, because I need some time alone.”

___

Zuko kicked sand angrily. “Stupid, stupid!” he said. “Why am I so _bad_ at this?”

___

The group was eating a light breakfast before packing up to move on. Jet set a moon peach down where he was sitting to go grab his bag from his tent. When he walked back to his rock seat at the center of camp, his peach was gone. Jet stared around the area searching for it.

He spotted a guilty looking Momo holding a moon peach at the edge of the tree-line. “Momo, give it back!” Jet said, running at the winged lemur. They darted around, Momo jumping from tree to tree as Jet chased him from below.

___

“He could just have another one,” Katara said to the rest of the group.

“Shhhh,” Toph said, darting her arm out to stop Katara from going after him. “How could you take this away from us,” Toph motioned to Jet, who was running around yelling at the winged lemur.

Katara sighed, “Ok, whatever. Just don’t come to me when Jet actually murders Momo for this.” As Katara said this, Jet pulled out his hook swords, starting to hack at the trees to get to Momo.

Aang shot up suddenly and ran off after Jet, his arms waving around as he explained that he could have another moon peach.

“No, this is personal!” Jet said, running after Momo again.

Zuko smirked as he bit into his own peach, a line of juice running down his chin. Katara turned slightly to face him and rubbed the juice off of his chin, then licked the finger with the juice on it. He stared at her in shock, and her face turned red as she realized what she had done. Maybe she should _not_ have done that. “Sorry,” she mumbled at the same time Zuko said, “thanks.” They both blushed, then turned back to continue watching Jet run around chasing Momo.

“Did something just happen?” Toph said, turning to face Zuko and Katara.

“What?” Zuko said.

“Your heart rate just dramatically increased, Sparky,” Toph said slyly.

Zuko stiffened and his face flushed. Katara cleared her throat awkwardly. The group turned in concern to a choking Sokka.

“You’re like a child,” Suki said, hitting Sokka’s back. “Chew your food!”

“What did I miss,” Jet said, running back up to the group with moon peach in hand, holding it up to show them. Everyone stared at him. Suddenly, Jet gasped. Momo sat on his shoulder, taking a huge bite out of his peach. They looked at each other for a moment, Momo’s huge wide eyes innocently staring back at Jet’s murderous glare. Momo squeaked and flew off, Jet throwing the peach after him. Momo grabbed the peach in the air with a triumphal squeal, flying over to Zuko’s shoulder. Momo happily ate his peach, juice dripping down from him onto Zuko’s cheek. Momo leaned down and licked it off of Zuko’s face. Katara laughed, Jet grimaced, and Zuko hid a small smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Katara hasn't found out about Jet's lie YET. Yes, she will find out and there will be repercussions, don't worry. All in due time. I hope you're all doing well, thank you for reading and reviewing! See you next week!


	8. The Beach

It was so peaceful to wake up feet away from her element. Katara found herself waking early to walk to the beach on Zuko’s family’s place at Ember Island. She swam in and bent the water in the ocean for a while, breathing in deeply the familiar smell of salt water. After the sun had been up for a bit, Katara started walking back toward the beach house to spot Zuko and Jet walking up to each other. At the last second, she decided to hide behind a wall of the house, curious to see their interaction.

“Jet,” Zuko nodded as he walked out the doorway and passed Jet.

“Hey Prince Hot Pants,” Jet said with a smirk. “You seen my lady yet today?”

“Your lady?” Zuko said stopping.

“Katara, duh,” Jet said. “We had a great time last night, but I woke up and she wasn’t in my room anymore. It was nice being with her, she completely forgot your ugly face for a while.”

Katara couldn’t see his face, but Zuko had frozen, his whole body going stiff. “I know you lied to me before. You’re not dating Katara, and even if you were you shouldn’t talk about her like that,” Zuko snapped.

“Just keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night. Aww are you jealous, Scarface?” Jet teased. “I may not be a bender, but they knew me as the backbender in Ba Sing Se. Compared to those earth kingdom ladies, Katara’s great, a real wildcat, like a beautiful water siren. I’m surprised you didn’t hear us last night, things got pretty loud.”

Zuko turned to face Jet, and Katara hadn’t seen him so angry in a long time, his eyes were narrowed and had dangerous look in them. He breathed out an angry breath of flames, pulling out his dual dao blades. “She’s way too good for you Jet,” Zuko said. "Tell her the truth. You've been lying since you got here."

Jet laughed in response, pulling out his hook swords. “You’re too damn predictable,” Jet said. “Like you’re any better for her?”

“Katara can be with whoever she wants to be with,” Zuko said.

Jet made a rude gesture at him. “Maybe I’ll let you have her when I’m done with her,” Jet said.

___

Zuko’s eyes widened, and then he lunged toward Jet, his hand sparking for a moment as he used firebending to ignite Jet’s wheat that was sticking out of his mouth. The wheat burned up, the tiny remnants floating away in the breeze. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” Zuko said.

“I can’t believe you just did that, Scarface!” Jet said. “You’re really touchy over someone who could never love you. Fire Nation scum. Your kind killed her mother.”

Then suddenly Zuko was fully attacking Jet, his blades swinging threateningly at him. All that was on his mind was defending Katara’s honor from this sick boy. On the edge of his mind, he heard Katara yelling, “Stop!” and running out toward them from the side of the house, but Zuko was beyond being reasoned with. Jet had this coming for a long time. Jet darted away from his blades, ducking and spinning as he stopped Zuko from a swing toward his face. Jet pushed his swords away, bending and trying for a leg sweep with one of his hooks. Zuko blocked it with his blade with a resounding “CRACK!”

Dimly Zuko heard voices behind them, but Jet was running away, and Zuko was chasing him, throwing fire blasts. Jet yelped as a blast bit at his ankles.

“Why are they trying to kill each other?” Zuko heard Sokka yelling from across the house.

“Now _this_ is a fight,” Toph said.

Jet suddenly darted into a side door, and Zuko practically blasted the door down with his fire, chasing after him. As Jet blocked a blow aimed at his chest, he bumped into a china cabinet, plates and teacups falling around them. Jet pushed part of the cabinet at Zuko, and Zuko blasted through it with a fist of flames, ceramics clattering on the ground and shattering around him. Zuko tried stabbing through Jet with a sword into the wall he leaned on, but Jet ducked at the last moment, Zuko’s sword sweeping a deep cut along the wall. Jet had continued down the hall, and Zuko threw a spiral of flames at him suddenly. Jet had to face him and spin his hooks to deflect it, gasping at the heat. He turned and darted out the other end of the house, Zuko following after him.

Jet ran toward the tree-line, Zuko continuing to blast fire at him. Jet used his hooks to pull himself up into the trees, swinging from one to another to get away from the murderous firebender. Zuko shot fireballs up at him, trying to be careful to not catch the trees on fire. He blasted a branch that Jet was standing on, and Jet was falling, trying to stop himself by gripping the trunk on the way down, his hooks streaking long lines down the bark. Zuko was at the bottom waiting for him. He ran at him with a flaming sword, and Jet barely dodged, Zuko’s blade getting wedged deeply into the trunk. He jerked it back out, dancing away from a hook to the face. Zuko used his sword to aim a fireblast at a retreating Jet, the lanky teen cursing as he narrowly avoided being burnt. Zuko followed Jet toward the beach in front of the house, but suddenly Jet swung from his swords out on a tree trunk, kicking Zuko hard in the side. Zuko landed hard, the air knocked out of him for a moment.

Jet’s hook almost stabbed Zuko in the face, but Zuko rolled out of the way, then did a sweeping kick, spinning his body and legs with his hands, a circular blast of flames streaming from his feet as he flipped his body up into a standing crouch. Jet had to block this with a spin of one of his blades again, running toward the lapping water of the beach. Zuko followed, heaving in breaths angrily.

They faced each other across their sandy arena, Zuko sensing their friends standing off to the side near the beach house. “Please stop!” Katara was screaming.

“You gonna listen to mom and stop fighting me now, Scarface?” Jet taunted just loudly enough for Zuko to hear. Zuko’s eyes hardened as he ran at him again. Jet suddenly pulled something out of his belt at his side, a flash of silver that he jabbed suddenly into Zuko’s ribs. A ribbon of pain shot through Zuko, and he yelled as he punched a flame blast into Jet’s stomach, his fist connecting hard with Jet. Jet went sprawling across the sand, his limbs splayed out at his sides. Zuko stood, waiting, but Jet didn’t get back up. Then Zuko fell onto the sand. He heard a desperate, “Zuko!” that sounded like Katara. The last thing he saw was brilliant blue eyes staring into his in concern.

___

He woke shortly after, still on his side on the beach.

“He was trying to kill Jet!” Sokka was saying angrily

“They were mutually trying to kill each other,” Katara said defensively back.

“Oh, that makes it allllll fine doesn’t it?” Sokka mocked.

“I’ve never seen Sparky so angry before,” Toph said. “Sugar Glider must have done something to really upset him.”

“Yes, Jet was trying to antagonize him!” Katara said. “I know they both fought, but Jet definitely started this, Zuko was being all friendly to him and then Jet …” Katara broke off and couldn’t finish the sentence. Zuko sat up groaning, looking at her in concern. Then he noticed, his shirt was off, and her hands were brushing along his chest. Zuko flushed bright red, Katara blushing too as their eyes connected, she jerked her hands away from him.

“Katara,” Zuko said. “Why did you take my shirt off?” Katara pointed next to him, and Zuko stared at the bloody cloth for a moment, blinking. “Oh,” he said.

Her hands went back to his chest, gently rubbing against a thin scar along the bottom of his right ribs. “It wasn’t big, but it was pretty deep. He missed any vital organs,” Katara said sighing.

“How’s Jet?” Zuko turned to look at the other teen, a mixture of guilt and anger on his face. Katara stared at Zuko, not saying a word. Everyone stayed silent. “What?” Zuko said.

“You idiot!” Katara said suddenly. “You …!” She stood up, grabbing her head and pacing back and forth, then suddenly she pulled a wave of water toward them, the water jerking Zuko straight up in front of her. It was a strange feeling, being surrounded by her water like this, but he didn’t really fear her anymore. Not that she wasn’t scary, but he trusted her now. Her water flowed around him, lightly holding his limbs up, and she stared him down, his gold connected with her bright blue eyes. “Why do you care how Jet is?” she said fiercely.

Zuko gulped, thinking his words over carefully. “I was so mad because of what he said about you, but I wouldn’t forgive myself if I actually physically hurt him …or killed him.” Zuko hung his head in shame. “I shouldn’t have let him get to me like that, but the things he said!” he huffed out angrily. His face shifted with a sly smile, “Is he dead?” Zuko said hopefully. Katara laughed, the water falling from Zuko in a rush. He caught himself on his feet lithely. She ran at him, then leaned into him, hugging him suddenly. Zuko sighed in relief as he hugged her back.

“He’s fine,” Katara said. “Seriously,” she said with a laugh, bending the water away from Zuko’s dripping clothes with a flick of her wrist. “I’m glad you knocked him out, but couldn’t you have roughed him up a bit more?” she joked.

Zuko pulled back, looking into her eyes. “You heard what he said, didn’t you?”

“Every word, unfortunately,” Katara said in a clipped tone. “None of it was true!” she suddenly got out in a rush. “I-I would never …! I mean not with him!” her face and ears were red with embarrassment. “After what I heard, I would have tried to kill him myself if you hadn’t.”

“I know, Katara,” Zuko reassured her, actually feeling relieved at her words. He hadn’t been entirely sure how she felt about Jet. He realized he didn’t really need to tell her about Jet’s lie anymore, she’d heard it from him herself now. Jet had put the nail in his own coffin where Katara was concerned. Of course the truth had to come out.

Toph coughed suddenly from the side. Katara and Zuko pulled away from each other, both blushing as they realized they were embracing in front of all of their friends. “As heart-warming as this moment is, can you two get a room or something? Even muffled from the sand, this image is nauseating,” Toph said with a fake gag. 

Suki giggled from behind her hand. “You two are so cute together! Fire and water, who would have thought?”

“Suki!” Katara said, feeling betrayed. “I …! We’re not together yet!”

___

Zuko’s eyebrow went up at that. “Yet?” Sokka screamed. “You and Jerkbender?” Sokka was looking back and forth between Zuko and Katara, appearing a bit lost.

“Of course,” Jet mumbled irritably, from his spot leaning in the sand.

Aang stood silently off to the side from the rest, his face dark, his eyes losing their usual spark.

“We’re just … still getting to know each other,” Katara said honestly.

“Why don’t we all cool down and have a beach party today?” Suki said after a long awkward pause, trying to distract and lift everyone’s spirits. “We haven’t been somewhere with such a nice beach in a long time,” she said.

“Beach party!” Sokka yelled, running up to the beach house to get supplies.

“Sounds good to me,” Toph said.

“I’m in!” Katara said excitedly.

Even Zuko felt excited at the idea of just hanging out with his new group of friends at the beach for a bit. It was still quite some time before the comet

___

Later that afternoon, Katara was showing Zuko how to surf. “I think part of the problem,” Zuko said, “is trying to surf on an _ice_ board. I know I could do it, but I can’t get a grip, my feet just keep sliding off.” He gestured angrily at the icy board.

Katara laughed and said, “I could freeze your feet to the board.”

Zuko scoffed, “That does _not_ sound like a good idea.”

“I could just strap you onto the board with ice and waterbend you around on it!” Katara said excitedly.

Zuko stared at her, unamused. Katara laughed at his expression.

They continued their attempts, and Zuko eventually did ride a few waves. He looked over to his side to see her riding a wave next to him, her face focused and happy, her hair waving all around her. He was so distracted that he crashed violently into a wave. He swam up for air, Katara staring at him in concern. He spit water out, spluttering for air, and Katara looked amused as he rubbed water off his face.

She swam up to him, smoothing his hair with soft strokes. “There!” she said satisfied. “Your hair was all spiky. Kind of cute though,” she smiled at him. “I definitely like your hair more at this length, it really suits you.”

He blushed, “Uhhhh thanks.” He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. Katara stared him down with a grin. “What?” he said.

“You’re the type that can’t take a compliment, aren’t you?” she said. “It’s so sweet. You’d think you’d be all princely with an ego as big as the walls of Ba Sing Se, but you’re actually really humble.”

Zuko felt his heart quicken at the praise. “Uhhhhh,” he said, at a loss for words.

“You really do care about others, even though you try to act all tough, you’re even sweet with animals. Momo and Appa love you. And with Jet today, you were so concerned that you hurt him, even after what he said about me.”

Zuko blinked slowly. “Yeah. I mean, I’ve never wanted to hurt anyone. Especially not the defenseless. I love animals, my mom and I always used to feed the turtleducks together in a pond at the palace.”

Katara practically made heart eyes at him. “You fed turtleducks!”

Zuko flushed, his cheeks turning pink. “Well I mean yeah, I was younger, it was before I was banished, before she … left,” he said.

“Oh, I’m sorry Zuko,” Katara said. “Maybe once this is all over, you can show me this pond, and we can feed turtleducks together.”

“I would like that, Katara,” Zuko said with a smile, “I would really like that.”

___

It was almost sunset, and Katara lay on the edge of the surf, the water lapping up to the backs of her legs.

She heard footsteps approach from her side, and she turned to see Zuko. “Typical waterbender,” he scoffed jokingly.

“What do you mean?” Katara said.

“Well, you don’t see me laying in lava all the time,” Zuko said.

“You can do that?” she said seriously.

“Uhhhh not really. I mean we can take some heat, but not quite that much.” He cringed inwardly at himself due to her not getting his attempt at a joke. Katara could be a bit innocent at times, but he found it cute. “Mind if I sit with you?” Zuko said.

“Of course!” she said, sitting up and patting the space next to her. He looked a bit irritated at the water lapping at the sand she patted. “I can dry it off of you later,” Katara promised.

He raised an eyebrow at her and she grabbed his arm, pulling him down next to her. He stumbled a bit and sat, trying to keep space between them to not make her uncomfortable. She scooted close to him, their legs touching, her hand still on his. Zuko sat frozen in place. She absentmindedly rubbed circles onto the back of his hand, smiling happily to herself.

“I was going to ask you,” Zuko said. “Since you told Jet today that you would never train with him again, and you never want to be alone with him ever again,” he said with amusement in his voice, “would you be open to sparing with me? We could do bending or non-bending, whatever you feel like. It would be good practice, we can run through team drills even. I mean, I understand if you don’t want to and …”

“That sounds good,” Katara said, interrupting him with a smile.

Zuko smiled at her, looking relieved. After a few moments of them both staring at the waves, he pulled a mango out of his pocket to eat, and he noticed her eyeing it. “Want half of it?” he offered.

“Sure!” Katara said. She watched as he pulled a dagger with an inscription on it from his belt. He swiftly cut the mango in half with it, giving her part to her. “What does that dagger say?” she said as she started eating the mango. Zuko moved the dagger closer for her to see. “Never give up without a fight,” she read aloud.

“It was a gift from my Uncle,” Zuko said, cleaning the blade and putting it away, then starting to eat the mango.

Katara noticed his sad expression at the mention of Iroh. “You miss him?” Katara said.

Zuko nodded and said, “I never realized just how important to me he was until I went off on my own, before we went to Ba Sing Se. He helped keep me sane in the prison. It’s hard splitting up with him after we’ve been through so much together, but I know he has things he needs to take care of before the comet comes.”

“Do you have any idea where exactly he went, or what he went to do?” Katara asked.

___

“Like my Uncle mentioned, he was planning on traveling to the Earth Kingdom,” Zuko said. Iroh had told him about The White Lotus while they were in prison together, and he hated keeping it from her, but Zuko had promised to not disclose information to anybody about the secret group. “I don’t know all of the details, but he has his own mission, and I have mine here training the Avatar.”

“It must have been hard, coming to us alone without a real plan,” Katara said.

“It was hard, but I knew I was doing the right thing,” Zuko said. “And like I said before, I’m so much more at peace with myself now. I know I’m helping do everything we can to stop the war. I can’t undo the past, but I can try to help make a better future.”

Katara stared at him, almost feeling like she was really seeing him for the first time. He had a determined look in his gold eyes as he turned them to her. At that moment, she didn’t just see Zuko, she saw the future Fire Lord. “Zuko, what will you do to make a better future? When you become Fire Lord,” she said. Because that’s what this was all about, their plan to defeat Ozai was nothing without a replacement. Katara had been thinking a lot about this lately due to her time spent with Zuko. In supporting Zuko training the Avatar, they were in a way supporting him becoming the next Fire Lord.

___

His eyes widened slightly in surprise. The words replayed in his head _‘Zuko, what will you do to make a better future? When you become Fire Lord.’_ Not _if_ , but _when_. Though he had thought about this a bit, he had focused so much on the before part, actually taking down his father and sister, he hadn’t thought much about the after. He did think Team Avatar would win, but the odds were stacked against them. He was thankful to Katara for leaving no room in the question for any doubt.

“Whatever it takes,” he said. “I want the nations to be at peace again. We use four different elements, but we are all human beings, all just trying to survive the war. I don’t want it to be about survival anymore, I want the nations to thrive, not as enemies but allies. I know it will be hard, but I’m willing to put in the work with Aang, my uncle, and all of you. I’m sure we can do it together,” he said, his eyes finding hers.

___

At his words, Katara felt a new hope tugging in her heart. Not just hope of the Avatar, but hope in this young man. She could see his potential, could see him leading the Fire Nation away from the ways of Ozai, Azulon, and Sozin. “Of course, we can,” she said with a smile. “Want to walk on the beach with me, future Fire Lord?” Katara enjoyed the moment of shock on his face, before he gave her a shy nod. She grabbed his hand to pull him up onto the sand with her.

___

Zuko felt a stirring deep in his heart. For a long time, it had been him and Iroh against the world. As he let Katara pull him up to walk on the sand with her, he realized it was nice to have someone else believe in him.

___

Later, Katara and Zuko walked back into the beach house together. She still had a hold of Zuko’s hand, and noticed when their friends all turned to look at them. She slowly let go of his hand and they inched away from each other.

Jet was staring at them with a strange look. “Do you two know where my mango went? I thought it was Momo again, but it strangely disappeared when Zuko left earlier,” Jet said suspiciously.

“Aw thank you Jet!” Katara said too sweetly. “That mango Zuko and I shared was delicious!”

Jet turned his accusing glare to Zuko. “I knew it was you!”

“Seems like Zuko’s stolen more than just your mango,” Toph said quietly.

Katara grabbed another fruit off the table and threw it to Jet suddenly. “Why don’t you just have a papaya instead?”

Jet caught it and grumpily said, “Fine! I hope you two lovebirds enjoy your mango kisses. I’m gonna go savor my papaya in my room.” He stomped away dramatically, slamming his door behind him.

“Savor his papaya!” Sokka guffawed. “Never heard it described like that before.” Sokka almost fell out of his chair laughing.

“Never heard what described like that?” Aang said.

Sokka wiped tears from his eyes and said, “Oh nothing Aang.”

“What?” Aang said looking around the room, but everyone avoided eye contact with him.


End file.
